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)

Renowned aerobatic pilots Sean D. Tucker, flying the Oracle Challenger III, and Jeff Boerboon, flying the Jack Link's Screamin' Sasquatch, take to the skies over EAA's 2015 AirVenture Oshkosh, on Monday, July 20, 2015 in Oshkosh, Wis. (Photo by Matt Ludtke/AP Images for Jack Link's)

Everly Base, six, sees the funny side of a TV carol-singing performance with her classmates in which her father had dared her to cross her eyes while she sang in Yate, Gloucestershire, UK on December 19, 2024. (Photo by Tom Wren/South West News Service)

People take pictures of their reflections in the decorations of a Christmas tree, at a Christmas fair in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, December 14, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

U.S. players push head coach Adam Krikorian into the pool after they defeated the Netherlands in their women's water polo gold medal match during the Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia, August 7, 2015. (Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters)

Migrant children run away from clashes with Mexican National Guards after their group crossed the Suchiate River on foot from Guatemala to Mexico, on the riverbank near Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, Monday, January 20, 2020. More than a thousand Central American migrants hoping to reach the United States marooned in Guatemala are walking en masse across a river leading to Mexico in an attempt to convince authorities there to allow them passage through the country. (Photo by Santiago Billy/AP Photo)

Members of Ankara Women's Orchestra, playing different instruments, are seen in Ankara, Turkiye on November 13, 2024.The orchestra, founded by 19 women of different ages and professions, gives concerts to female audiences with their wide repertoire in different languages and styles. (Photo by Esra Hacioglu Karakaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A nurse shows a syringe with a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to a citizen who is about to receive it during a vaccination day as part of the campaign in Mexico City at Pepsi Center WTC on May 25, 2021 in Mexico City, Mexico. According to the head of Govermnment, Claudia Sheinbaum, seven municipalities will start their campaign today which plans to apply the first dose to over 500,000 citizens between 50 and 59 years old. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)