An epic water diversion project, which aims to send water from rain-filled rivers in China's southern areas to the parched north, unveiled its ambitious plan and timetable for the Beijing section at a water conservancy conference over the weekend.

The 80-kilometer-long water transfer line, running from the Juma River in the city's southwestern suburb to the Tuancheng Lake of the Summer Palace in northwestern Beijing, will provide the city with 1.2 billion cubic meters of water annually by 2010, when the project is expected to be completed, according to sources with the Beijing Water Resources Bureau.

The project design will be hammered out in October, with construction due to begin at the end of this year.

With access to water from the Yangtze River, the long-standing problem of water scarcity facing the city, especially in the southern areas, will be greatly alleviated, as the 10-billion-yuan (US$1.2 billion) ditch will supply nearly one-third of the total annual water consumption of the city and expand a water supply area of 700 square kilometers, said Yu Yaping, an official with the bureau.

Besides, the municipal government will earmark 3.3 billion yuan (US$400 million) this year in water treatment for rivers and lakes around the city.

However, despite the hefty investment and initiatives thus far, analysts say China must think less about structures and more about ways to make people use water more efficiently.

"It's high time to shift resources to eco-restoration, to try to solve the problem in a more sustainable way instead of simply relying on more huge water projects," said Hou Yongzhi, an official with the Development Research Center under the State Council.

As one of China's most populous regions, Beijing consumes about 4 billion cubic meters every year.

With economic development battered by continuous drought, Beijing is now facing a severe water shortage.

The city's average annual per-capita water availability is less than 300 cubic meters, merely one-eighth and one-32nd of the national and international standard respectively.

Furthermore, environmental pollution caused by inadequate sewage treatment and drought in northern China has also aggravated Beijing's water crisis.

Meanwhile, the bureau will further restore the quality of water in the Guanting Reservoir, the second largest in Beijing, and therefore make it fit for consumption, as it used to be.

Because of severe pollution in Beijing, and nearby Shanxi and Hebei provinces, which are all located on the upper reaches of many rivers flowing through Beijing, Guanting Reservoir lost its function as a drinking water resource in 1997.

Beijing has implemented a series of water conservation measures in the past years, including the completion of hundreds of technical renovation projects to reduce industrial water consumption, the suspension of water supply for agriculture from the Miyun Reservoir, and a raise in the water rate, aimed at using price controls to regulate domestic water demand.

Beijing also plans to build more than 10 sewage treatment plants to ensure 90 per cent of sewage is treated in the next three years. Currently, only half of the sewage water is treated in urban areas.

(China Daily March 24, 2003)