A groundwater project that may provide Beijingers with 100
million cubic meters of water annually has just been completed on
the northeastern outskirts of the capital, according to the Beijing
Urban Construction Company.
The project is one of several major efforts to quench the city's
thirst. Per capita water availability in the capital is just
one-32nd of the international average.
A similar project, located in Zhangfang, Fangshan District, on
the southwestern outskirts of Beijing, was also finished early this
month, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. The project will
take the place of the Miyun Reservoir, Beijing's primary water
source, in supplying the water-guzzling Yanshan Petrochemical
Company.
Following several consecutive years of drought, Beijing
decided last year to find new water sources to cope with the
soaring demand from the expanding population and industry.
The first groundwater project, located in Huairou District, was
finished last September. It provides the city with 330,000 cubic
meters of water every day, according to the Beijing Water
Bureau.
A project to divert water from four reservoirs in neighboring Hebei
Province was started in December last year and is scheduled for
completion by the end of 2006.
Meanwhile, local meteorologists are speculatively eyeing each
passing cloud as the city increases its cloud-seeding efforts.
During the first half of this year, 16 flights were made, 429
rockets launched and 1,931 anti-aircraft artillery shells fired to
seed clouds with dry ice.
Mother Nature also provided a helping hand in bringing moisture
to the parched city this year. Between July 20 and August 10, 108
millimeters of rain fell, compared with just 32 millimeters in the
same period last year. The city's Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters reports, however, that this year's flood-season
rainfall was still lower than the level considered normal.
Nevertheless, the rain helped replenish the long-dwindling
supplies in the Miyun Reservoir.
(China Daily August 19, 2004)