The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won, Revised and Expanded Edition

7. The Damnable Dam and Water Wars—Nary a (Clean) Drop to Drink

Zhang Lishan stands on a ridge of dirt tending a small vegetable garden surrounded by pools of stagnant, stinking water. His plot near the banks of the Yangtze River in China’s eastern Anhui province is irrigated by the runoff from a large paper mill. “I can hardly grow anything because this water is poisoned,” he says. “It kills all the fish and many of my neighbors have been made sick.” At the point where the runoff meets the river, a dead pig bobs on the wake of a cargo ship steaming past. Mr. Zhang is far from alone in his distress. Across large swaths of China’s rapidly industrializing countryside, polluted water is killing tens of thousands of people every year, threatening ...