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 and a girl take a dip in icy waters during celebrations for the Orthodox Epiphany in the Sea of Japan in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, Russia, January 19, 2016. Orthodox believers mark Epiphany on January 19 by immersing themselves in icy waters regardless of the weather. (Photo by Yuri Maltsev/Reuters)

Clearing skies await a tripod-toting photographer looking for a spot to capture the early-morning light at Portland Head Light, Thursday, January 17, 2013, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

2016 Rio Olympics, Judo, Final, Women, 48 kg Bronze Medal Contests, Carioca Arena 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 6, 2016. Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ) of Kazakhstan and Dayaris Mestre Alvarez (CUB) of Cuba react. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

People follow king penguins exploring their outdoor pen, during a so-called “penguin parade”, when the animals walk outside their enclosure and the visitors can walk behind them, at Zurich's Zoo in Zurich, Switzerland January 28, 2017. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

A woman overcome by emotion after an aftershock hit the area, is carried by a relative to the general hospital in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Sunday, October 7, 2018. A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day's temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise. (Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)

British singer Rita Ora, 30, who is currently in Australia wished her Instagram followers a happy International Womens’ Day on March 8, 2021. (Photo by Instagram/The Sun)

Actress Elke Sommer sunbathing on the beach of Cannes during the Cannes film festival, 1961. (Photo by Daniel Fallot/INA via Getty Images)