Although the switch from coal to natural gas may help reduce air pollution, it could worsen water scarcity in many arid parts of China.
Record-setting levels of smog this week shut down Harbin, a city of 11 million people in northeast China. Officials blamed increased coal consumption during the first days of winter heating, underscoring the urgency of the China State Council’s recently announced initiative to address persistent smog in major cities.
But while the Air Pollution Control Action Plan has ambitious goals—cutting air particulates and coal consumption—it may create unintended problems for the country’s water supply.
The Plan aims to reduce particulate matter in the North China Plain by 25% and reduce coal’s share of the national energy mix to 65% by 2017. One of the plan’s key recommendations is to replace coal with cleaner natural gas, including synthetic natural gas (SNG) converted from coal. Converting coal to natural gas, however, is an extremely water-intensive process. One cubic meter of SNG requires 6 to 10 litres (1.58-2.6 gallons) of freshwater to produce. China’s attempt to control urban air pollution in the east might jeopardize its water supplies elsewhere.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) overlaid the locations of the approved SNG plants on water stress maps to assess the potential water risks. Many of these plants are located in water-stressed regions, and could exacerbate water scarcity.
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