Water shortages are hindering Beijing's further development, the
city's Vice-Mayor Niu Youcheng has said.
"The relationship between water and people should concern us
more and be better handled," he said on Wednesday, on the sidelines
of an international forum debating the sustainable use of water
resources.
Beijing's water levels fall when winter approaches, Jiao
Zhizhong, director of Beijing's water authority, said.
Even so, a multi-source water supply scheme scheduled for 2010
should guarantee the water supply, Jiao said.
Using surface, underground and recycled water, rainfall and a
giant south-to-north water diversion project will help achieve
this, he said.
"Water supply and demand will be balanced by then," Jiao
said.
Currently, drinking water for the city's 15 million population
comes mainly from the Miyun reservoir and underground water.
Miyun reservoir has a capacity of nearly 4.4 billion cu m, but
holds just 700 million cu m of water because of droughts in recent
years.
This is not enough to satisfy Beijing's thirst. The city
consumed 3.43 billion cu m of water last year
The 2.73 billion cu m shortfall is made up from underground
water and small-scale water diversion projects from neighboring
Hebei and Shanxi provinces.
The over exploitation of underground water has led to low water
levels, dry springs and lakes, and land subsidence.
A report by the Guangzhou-based People Week magazine said
Beijing's exploitable underground water capacity is 2.5 billion cu
m per year.
An additional 400 million cu m is exploited every year.
After drought, inefficient use of water is believed to be
another major reason for the scarcity of water.
"Wasting water is a much more pressing issue than water
shortages," Wu Jisong, an official from China's water resources
watchdog, said.
Beginning in the late 1990s, Beijing has experienced a prolonged
drought with an annual rainfall of just 600 mm a year on
average.
(China Daily November 9, 2007)