We were discussing water, and he told me that roughly 60% of California right now is suffering "extreme drought" conditions. 30% of the state is in "severe drought". And 10% of the state is only under "drought".

In other words, roughly the entire state? the 8th largest economy in the world? is facing a severe shortage of water.

But if you think that's bad, China is about to take over the spotlight yet again.

A study by China's Ministry of Water Resources found that approximately 55% of China's 50,000 rivers that existed in the 1990s have disappeared.

Moreover, China is over-exploiting its groundwater by 22 billion cubic meters per year; yet its per-capita water consumption is less than one third of the global average.

This is astounding data.

More than 400 major cities in China are short of water, with some 110 facing "serious scarcity".