F3 Water Resources In China?

What are the major water resources in China?

In China, 80% of the water supply comes from _______________ surface waters, including _______________ rivers, _______________ lakes and _______________ glaciers【冰川】. The rest comes from _______________ groundwater.

Surface waters

1. Rivers
China has more than 50,000 rivers, of which _______________ Chang Jiang【長江】, _______________ Huang He【黃河】 and _______________ Zhu Jiang【珠江】 are the three most important ones.

2. Lakes
There are about 1,600 freshwater lakes in China. _______________ Poyang Hu【鄱陽湖】, _______________ Dongting Hu【洞庭湖】 and _______________ Tai Hu【太湖】 are the major lakes and they are located in the middle and lower courses of the Chang Jiang【長江】.

3. Glaciers【冰川】
Glaciers are mainly found in the high mountains in the _______________ western part of China. They supply _______________ meltwater to major rivers in spring. This provides a stable【穩定】 water supply for the country, especially the arid【乾旱的】 northwest region.

Groundwater

Groundwater is stored in the _______________ aquifers between rock layers under the ground. They can be extracted【提取】 for human use by _______________ drilling wells or using _______________ pumping machines. There are rich reserves【儲備】 of groundwater in _______________ North China, which is an important resources for big cities such as Beijing.

The distribution of water resources in China

Water resources in China are _______________ unevenly【不均地】 distributed【分佈】:

1. The annual rainfall decreases from the _______________ southeast to the _______________ northwest. Therefore, water resources are more scarce in _______________ Northern China than in _______________ Southern China.
2. The volume of _______________ river flow and _______________ groundwater reserves【地下水儲備】 vary across different regions.

Even though the total water resources (2,800 billion m³) of China ranks _______________ sixth in the world, the per capita water resource of China is only 2100 m³, which is _______________ one-fourth of the world’s average【平均值】.

Four major wet and dry regions in China according to the precipitation【降雨】

1. _______________ dry regions
2. _______________ semi-arid regions
3. _______________ semi-wet regions
4. _______________ wet regions

Distribution of rainfall is affected by three factors