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)

Armed women attend a rally to show support to the Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen January 13, 2018. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

Cast member Charlize Theron attends the “Atomic Blonde” World Premiere at Stage Theater on July 17, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

A mother prays for success for her child in the college entrance examinations at a Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea, November 12, 2015. About 630,000 students on Thursday sat for the annual exams that could lead them to one of the country's top universities. In South Korea, there is no higher achievement than to be accepted by a prestigious university. As a result, many students prepare for these entrance exams from an early age, often studying up to 16 hours a day for years to take this test. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Greece's Maria Sakkari reacts during her women's singles quarter-final tennis match against Poland's Iga Swiatekon Day 11 of The Roland Garros 2021 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 9, 2021. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Switzerland's cyclist Marlen Reusser reacts after placing second in the women' elite time trial race of the UCI World Championships Road Cycling Flanders 2021, in Bruges, on September 20, 2021. UCI World Championships Road Cycling Flanders 2021 takes place from September 19 until September 26, 2021, in several cities in the Belgian region of Flanders. (Photo by Simon Wilkinson/BELGA via AFP Photo)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and U.S. President Donald Trump watch a woman carry a card announcing the rounds during a mixed martial arts fight in Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, U.S., November 2, 2019. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

A festivalgoer enjoys the weather in the circus area at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, United Kingdom on Thursday, June 22, 2023. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)