The Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center Seminar Series this past week presented “Will China Run Out Of Water?” with Chunmiao Zheng, Professor of Hydrogeology; SSPA Faculty Fellow; 2009 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, University of Alabama.

The following comes from the Earth Institute’s Web site:

The American agricultural expert and environmentalist Lester Brown published a provocative book in 1995 called “Who Will Feed China: Wake-Up Call for a Small Planet.” Today, however, of a greater concern may be the question of whether the unprecedented economic growth in China over the past two decades can be sustained as the environmental pollution and water shortage continue to worsen. Some people have asked, “Will China run out of water?” This question is not merely academic: China has to nourish a fifth of the global population with about seven percent of the planet’s water resources.

Ample evidence suggests that China faces a daunting water resource crisis. The country has been battling water shortages in its northern and western provinces for more than a decade. The presentation draws on the presenter’s recent research work in the North China Plain and the Ordos Basin in western China.

Chunmiao Zheng received the B.S. degree in geology from Chengdu University of Technology (China) in 1983, and the Ph.D. degree in hydrogeology with a minor in civil & environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. From 1988 to 1993, he was a hydrogeologist at the environmental consulting firm S.S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc. Since 1993, he has been a professor of hydrogeology in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama.

For a profile of Chunmiao Zheng click here.