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 model poses with her arm after it was painted by body artist Guido Daniele into the likeness of a snake at Harrods on Februrary 4, 2008 in London, England. Guido Daniele has painted human hands since 2000. Each work of art takes over three hours to complete. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge smiles as she is saluted to during the Irish Guards Medal Parade at the Victoria Barracks on June 25, 2011 in Windsor, England. The Duchess of Cambridge and Duke of Cambridge are at the barracks to present service medals to members of the Irish Guards. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

A vervet monkey passes in front of a woman on the shores of lake Naivasha, Kenya January 24, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A child covered in mud on Lake Chokrak near the village of Kurortnoye, Leninsky District of Crimea in Russia on July 4, 2019. (Photo by Sergei Malgavko/TASS)

Storks casts shadows as they search for food on the dried-up Lake May in southwest Turkey on October 30, 2021. (Photo by Seyit Konyal/Solent News)

An areal view of the lake in the form of a heart in Rodgau, near Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, May 24, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Fireworks explode over a floating Christmas tree in Lagoa Lake in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press)