Outlining risks to vital groundwater supplies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), this brief shows why scaling up nature-based solutions, strengthening governance, and modernizing monitoring systems can help underpin water security.
It analyzes how overextraction alongside domestic and industrial contamination is threatening groundwater in the PRC and identifies the North China Plain as an area of severe depletion. It considers existing measures to promote sustainable water management practices and draws on a Shandong case study. Recommending a paradigm shift, it explains how an improved understanding of groundwater resources, increased investment, and technological innovation can help secure future resources.