China’s cash crop—rice—has seen reduced yields in some locales and many consumers are wary of eating food that they believe was grown with tainted water.
According to the United Nation‘s Food and Agricultural Organization, China also is the world’s largest consumer of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. When an excessive amount of nitrogen and other chemicals used in fertilizers is introduced into a waterway, an imbalance of organic materials can occur which leads to increased algae blooms. Increased algae blooms negatively affect the water supply and have already led to the temporary closure of drinking water plants in some areas of China.