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)

Models seen backstage ahead of the Philosphy Di Lorenzo Serafini show during Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2017/18 on February 25, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

Paramilitary policemen carry tyres as they take part in a training session in Zhangye, Gansu Province, China, March 1, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

An Iraqi man cooks traditional Masgouf fish on a barbecue for sale in the Karada market July 02, 2014. Masgouf, one of the national dishes of Iraq is a grilled carp seasoned with olive oil, rock salt, tamarind and ground turmeric. (Photo by Scott Nelson for the Washington Post)

In this October 21, 2015, file photo, a young man rides a hoverboard along a Manhattan street toward the Empire State Building in New York. More than 500,000 hoverboards are being recalled after reports that they can burst into flames. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday, July 6, 2016, it has received 99 reports of battery packs in the two-wheel motorized scooters catching fire or exploding that causing burns or property damage. The recalled hoverboards were made by eight companies. (Photo by Kathy Willens/AP Photo)

A girl plays kayagum, stringed Korean harp, at the Tongmun kindergarten No.1 in Taedonggang District of Pyongyang, North Korea Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (Photo by Cha Song Ho/AP Photo)

Beachgoers watch the detonation of a 500 pound British bomb on the beach on May 19, 2014 in Wassenaar, Netherlands. The bomb was dropped by the British allied forces during the second world war over nearby Leiden where it was found on a building site. (Photo by Michel Porro/Getty Images)