Though water is drying up, a Chinese metropolis booms
By Jim Yardley
Thursday, September 27, 2007
SHIJIAZHUANG, China: Hundreds of feet below ground, this provincial capital of more than two million people is steadily running out of water. The water table is sinking fast. Municipal wells have already drained two-thirds of the local groundwater.
Above ground, this city in the North China Plain is having a party. Economic growth topped 11 percent last year. Population is rising. One new upscale housing development is advertising waterfront property on lakes filled with pumped groundwater. Another half-built complex, the Arc de Royal, is rising above one of the lowest points in the city's water table.
"People who are buying apartments aren't thinking about whether there will be water in the future," said Zhang Zhongmin, who has tried for the past 20 years to raise public awareness about the city's dire water situation.
New Mexico and the Colorado River are just two of the places referenced in the rest of this article in the International Hearld Tribune: http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=7660278
Dr. Larry November will address the Alamogordo City Council on this very topic where he is thinking outside the box. Will post date when confirmed.
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