The ecological environment of a key Chinese river winding
through 26 large and medium-sized cities is worsening due to the
excessive exploitation of water resources, a regional water
conservancy authority said on Sunday.
The Haihe River valley, with an area of 320,000 square
kilometers, covers Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and the provinces and
regions of Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Inner Mongolia. The area is suffering from
shortage of water resources, with per capita water availability
less than 293 cubic meters, which is far less than the world
shortage standard of 1,000 cubic meters.
The water resource in the river has been overused to adapt to
the growing population and rapid economic development along the
river, according to the Haihe River Water Conservancy Committee
under the Ministry of Water Resources.
Over exploitation leads to severe deterioration of the
ecological environment in the river valley. Statistics showed 98
percent of the water resources in the river valley have been
exploited, far exceeding the world standard of 40 percent.
According to a survey conducted by the committee, 60 percent of
21 trunk tributaries of the Haihe River have run dry, with affected
length reaching over 200 km.
Due to lack of surface water, the river valley has to explore
underground water to meet the growing needs. At present, a total of
4.2 billion cubic meters of shallow underground water has been
over-exploited. Some regions even suffer environmental geological
disasters.
The growing water needs with China's economic development have
gone far beyond the supply of water resources and the capacity of
the water environment, which is the fundamental cause of the
deterioration of the ecological environment, the committee
said.
The river valley should take efficient measures to deal with
water pollution, water diversion and strengthen water saving, in a
bid to raise efficiency of water utilization and support the
sustainable development of the economy, the committee said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2006)