Maybe I've been living under a rock, but this is the first I've heard of this:
About 2.4 billion people live in “water-stressed” countries such as China, according to a 2009 report by the Pacific Institute, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit scientific research group. Water scarcity and pollution reduce China’s gross domestic product by about 2.3 percent, the World Bank said in a 2007 report.
The article goes on to talk about chip manufacturers and soda companies are taking up the lions share of resources. I don't know about whether or not this is a real concern or some silly NPR concern.
Fwiw, the story on China for the last 20 years has been that they've got virtually unlimited industrial capacity. If this article is offering legitimate perspective and not exaggeration, this could represent very real limits. Well, that and a workforce that maybe exhibiting some stress as a result of working conditions.