Time to pay the water debt

Local governments need to start focusing on funding water conservancy projects to make up for neglect of past decades

It is not hard to understand why Chinese history is sometimes viewed as a chronicle of the people's struggles with water and food shortages. Like a malevolent ghost stalking the land, famine has been a constant concern for the country's rulers, and the stability and legitimacy of their rule depended on their ability to feed the people.

The specter of famine still haunts the government despite the fact that people are now in thrall to modernization. Even as the country's arable land continues to shrink, from 129.67 million hectares in 1998 to 121.22 million hectares in 2010, it faces an even greater threat than urbanization, the decline of the irrigation system.