Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

A man dressed up as the devil jumps over babies lying on a mattress in the street during “El Colacho”, the “baby jumping festival” in the village of Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos on June 18, 2017. Baby jumping (El Colacho) is a traditional Spanish practice dating back to 1620 that takes place annually to celebrate the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi. During the act – known as El Salto del Colacho (the devil's jump) or simply El Colacho – men dressed as the Devil jump over babies born in the last twelve months of the year who lie on mattresses in the street. (Photo by Cesar Manso/AFP Photo)

Hungarians witness the fallen statue of communist leader Josef Stalin in front of the National Theater in Budapest on October 24, 1956. Demonstrators revolting against communist rule in Hungary pulled the statue to the ground at Dozsa Gyorgy on Oct. 23 and hauled it by tractor to Blaha Lujza where it was later smashed to pieces by the people. (Photo by Arpad Hazafi/AP Photo)

An athletes competes in a log carrying relay race event at Peruibe beach during the Indigenous Games, near the Tapirema community of Peruibe, Brazil, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Hundreds of Indigenous athletes gather this weekend in the south of Sao Paulo state to hold their version of the Olympic Games. They will compete for medals in archery, tug of war, athletics, Indigenous wrestling and other sports. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

Filipino boys play basketball at an improvised court hooked on multi-layered tombs at a public cemetery in Navotas, north of Manila, Philippines on Thursday Oct. 31, 2013. Filipinos are expected to flock to cemeteries on November 1 to remember their dead as they observe All Saints Day in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

A bonnet macaque sits on consecrated idols of snakes as it drinks milk offered by a devotee during the Hindu festival of Nag Panchami, which is celebrated by worshipping snakes to honour the serpent god, inside a temple on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, July 27, 2017. (Photo by Abhishek N. Chinnappa/Reuters)

A resident reacts as a health worker collects a swab sample to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Off from school due to the Thanksgiving holiday this week, Felix Naranch, 7, right, and his brother Asa Naranch, 3, play with their father Stu Naranch in a pile of fall leaves that they raked together in a park, Tuesday, November 23, 2021, in Washington. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)