Water strategy needed

LACK OF FORESIGHT USUALLY MEANS THERE will be trouble ahead.

This is certainly true when it comes to the strategy for water use in North China, where the excessive exploitation of ground water has made this region one of the world's largest areas with land subsidence.

The land that has subsided by more than 20 centimeters involves an area of more than 60,000 square kilometers, accounting for half of the region. Land has sunk by as much as 2.4 meters in the past four decades in the city of Cangzhou, Hebei province. The ground floor of a local hospital building in the city has now become a basement.