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To Quench Beijing's Thirst

"Save water!"

The imperative contained within these catchwords describes the situation facing a thirsty Chinese capital this summer. As a consequence, slogans promoting water conservation are spattering billboards, buses, and public places and are being broadcast via radio and television.

Stories about a proposed water-price hike - the ninth increase since 1991 - have also been in the headlines recently. Relevant government organs claim that they are using price hikes to give people an incentive to economise in their use of water and thus ease the severe shortages confronting the city.

"There are many sound reasons for people in Beijing to worry about water supply," said Liu Zhiqi, secretary general of the Beijing Water Association. He said the water level of Miyun Reservoir, which provides 50 percent the city's drinking water, is dangerously low.

Statistics from the Beijing Water Affairs Bureau indicate that the city's per capita water reserve is less than 300 cubic metres (cu.m), about one-eighth of the national average and one-thirtieth the world average. A cubic metre of water equals 264.2 US gallons of water. The United Nations considers a region to be officially

"short" of water if resources fall below 1,000 cu.m per capita, and deems it to be in a "water crisis" if below 500 cu.m. Beijing's per-capital water supply is described by water officials as being at a "crisis of crises" level.

Five consecutive years of drought in northern China has worsened water shortages in the capital. With annual precipitation at just 71 percent of the average for normal years, the city is now mired in one of driest periods since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. 

"The two rivers entering Miyun reservoir this year provided just 18 percent of their normal flow if compared to years of abundance, and the water level of the reservoir is 20 metres lower," said Liu. Diminished water inflows have reduced the total reserves of Miyun and the city's second-largest reservoir, Guanting, to just 700 million cu.m-800 million cu.m of water on an annual basis, a drastic drop from more than 2 billion cu.m in the 1970s.

Because of a severe shortage of surface water resources, the capital has been tapping non-renewable underground aquifers, with water bureaus drilling deeper and deeper to satisfy demand. In the past five years, excessive exploitation of ground water has led to an annual decline of 1.29 metres in groundwater levels. The city's underground water level currently averages 13.65 metres below the earth's surface, two metres below the 2002 level and 7.2 metres below the 1980 levels.

According to experts, Beijing can support no more than 10 million people with its current water reserves. However there are more than 11 million registered permanent residents in the city. With an estimated three million more immigrant workers or other residents added to this, there may be as many as 14.6 million water consumers in the city.

Water waste and inefficient use is as appalling. Experts say that to generate 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) in added value in agriculture, the city consumes 3.5 times as much water as Australia and 2.1 times as much as South Korea. To generate 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) in added value in industry, it uses 9.5 times that of Japan and 6.2 times that of South Korea. Per capita water consumption in Beijing is even more stunning at four times the world average.

Even worse, badly maintained water-supply pipelines leak, and most parks and lawns in the city are irrigated with tap water. Of the 379 kilometre-long river systems in the urban area, about 300 kilometres are considered polluted, 200 kilometres heavily.

By 2005, the disparity between water demand and supply in Beijing is expected to reach 794 million cu.m, said Pan Yue, vice-director general of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). By the time the 2008 Olympic Games are held, the city will face water shortfalls of up to 1 billion cu.m a year.

To cope with the deficit, Beijing has resorted to diverting water from other regions of the country. Last September 50 million cu.m of water was transferred into the Guanting reservoir from neighbouring Shanxi Province for temporary relief of the shortage, the first time Beijing had received a large volume of water from other provinces. That amount, however, seems inconsequential because the city consumes nearly 4 billion cu.m of water per year.

Many are counting on the massive South-to-North Water Diversion Project to address the capital's growing thirst for water. With a projected total cost of 486 billion yuan (US$60 billion), the water diversion effort, one of the world's biggest and costliest, is intended to divert 44.8 billion cu.m of water per year from the Yangzi (Yangtze) River -1,246 kilometres away in China's wetter south - to Beijing and other parts of the country's dry north. After its completion in 2010, the capital will be allocated 1.1 billion cu.m of water per year. The first supplies are expected to reach Beijing in 2007.

Experts warn that even after the completion of the gigantic project, per capita water resources in Beijing will remain below 400 cu.m.

Nationwide, water shortages and waste are also evident. Official statistics indicate that two-thirds of China's 660 cities are short of water, and over 100 of those shortages are deemed severe. As a matter of fact, the country has been listed among 13 countries with the lowest available per capita water resources in the world.

Water experts reveal that in 40 percent of China's largest cities, at least 12 percent of the water supply is lost because of leaky pipelines and unthrifty uses. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, a survey done in 408 Chinese cities indicates that 21 percent of water supply networks have problems, resulting in an annual leakage of about 10 billion cu.m of tap water. With a per capita available supply of fresh water that is one-quarter of world's average (2,200 cu.m in China), the country's water consumption for generating 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) in gross domestic product GDP is 540 cu.m, four times the world's average.

Water shortages and pollution have become a bottleneck impairing China's sustainable development. Water Resources Minister Wang Shucheng described the problem as one of the toughest challenges China will have to deal with in the next two decades, a pivotal period for the country's drive towards creation of a relatively prosperous society.

"Fostering a 'water-saving' society will be the only fundamental outway for China to tackle the issue today and to maintain sustainable development in the future," observed the minister.

Experts maintain that instead of simply relying on more huge water projects, China must consider more ways to get people to use water more efficiently. They believe that one effective way to provide an incentive for better water conservation would be to increase the price of water.

"With severe shortages, water is too cheap. Only higher prices will motivate consumers to conserve," said Wang Jirong, another SEPA vice-director.

Wang, like many others, believes that raising water rates will help people become more aware of the value of water. Water was virtually free of charge to consumers before 1985 and has been priced at less than its actual value in China since then. The experience of foreign countries lends support to their belief that under normal circumstances, every 40 percent increase in water prices will lead to a 20 percent decrease in water consumption.

In Beijing, prices for the general commercial use of tap water are expected to be raised from 4.01 yuan (48 US cents) per cu.m to 5.14 yuan (62 US cents) this year. The price for the residential use of water, at homes and apartments, is expected to increase by 28 percent from 2.9 yuan (35 US cents) per cu.m to 3.7 yuan (45 US cents).

The city has planned a total investment of 21.2 billion yuan (US$2.54 billion) for developing a water savings industry, exploring for emergency water resources and recycling waste water during the first several decades of this century. Of the total, 6.9 billion yuan (US$82.8 million) has been set aside for protecting the upper reaches of watersheds outside the city. This will be partially financed by the central government, along with 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) in subsidies. The rest is to be raised by the municipal government.

The only thing the municipal government has to do is to raise water prices, analysts say. And officials already have plans for further price hikes in mind. According to government sources, the average water price for commercial and other users will reach 6 yuan (about 72 US cents) per cu.m in 2005, with residential prices leaping to 4.5 yuan (50 US cents).

To encourage efficient water use and to ease the financial burdens of disadvantaged citizens, the municipal government will use differential pricing for water consumption. This means that those who consume more water than average will pay more, and those who use water within a certain quota will pay less. Commercial businesses such as spas, saunas and massage centres are expected to pay as much as 100 yuan (US$12) per ton instead of the current 10 yuan (US$1.20), 60 yuan (US$7.20) or 80 yuan (US$9.6) per ton. A ton of water equals one kilolitre of water (1,000 litres) or 264.17 US gallons.

Wang Liang, 31, an office worker, believes the price hike is a necessary and effective way to curb water waste. But Fan Chunxi, an executive with the Beijing Seine Gym Club, is worried that many engaged in the spa, sauna and massage businesses that rely solely on water will face closure if such a proposal is endorsed.

Chen Haiyi, manager of the Beijing Hairunda Auto Service Company, said that although his car-wash business will be heavily affected, he will opt to use recycled water which costs just 5 yuan (60 US cents) per ton because tap water for car washes is expected to cost 60 yuan (US$7.20) per ton for car wash companies.

In addition to price controls, the city is now imposing quotas on businesses and enterprises who are heavy water users to drive them towards thrift. Sectors such as sauna baths, car washes, golf courses and ski runs are expected to be among those affected. In May, the Municipal Water Affairs Bureau signed water-supply agreements with the city's 10 biggest water-guzzlers, including the Beijing Tap Water Group and the Capital Iron and Steel Group, restricting the amount of water these enterprises may consume in a given year.

Jiao Zhizhong, director of the Water Affairs Bureau, said the city has worked out rules for implementing a national law on water, according to which organizations or individuals who squander water or destroy water resources could be fined as much as 100,000 yuan (US$12,100). It is the first time a Chinese city has included water-saving policies in its legal system, and Jiao expects the rules to guarantee effective implementation of water-saving measures.

To stop water waste from pipeline leakage, Beijing in 2004 will invest 315 million yuan (US$38 million) to renovate its water supply networks. Local media reports the city is planning to replace all toilets that use more than nine litres of water per flush in public places such as hotels, hospitals, shopping malls. Inductor taps or foot-operated faucets are expected to be installed in public places.

Wu Jisong, director of the Water Resources Bureau under the Ministry of Water Resources, said the capital expects to save about 2.7 billion cu.m of water between now and 2008 by adjusting its industrial structure and by using advanced technologies. By 2005, the city will be able to treat 90 percent of its waste water effluent, meaning it can produce 1 billion cu.m of recycled water every year. This year, the municipal government will earmark 3.3 billion yuan (US$400 million) for cleaning up rivers and lakes around the city, and it is planning to build more than 10 new sewage treatment plants.

To further quench its thirst, Beijing is considering other alternatives such as sea-water desalinization and cloud seeding. A project team considering the large-scale use of desalinated sea water was set up in Beijing in May.

The mass-circulation Beijing Evening News reported, "…local people might be able to get access to desalted seawater even before water is diverted from the Yangzi River prior to 2008." Experts say the cost to freshen sea water in China has dropped in recent years. Desalination equipment is now about 50 percent less expensive than it was 10 years ago.

Since last year, Beijing residents have experienced more artificial rainfalls from cloud seeding than ever before. Meteorologists say these techniques are cost-effective. From July to September last year, two airplanes, 21 rocket launchers and 30 anti-aircraft artillery pieces were deployed to artificially induce rainfall. Efforts produced 23.77 million cu.m of water in the Miyun Reservoir watershed at a cost of 0.15 yuan (1.8 US cents) per cu.m of water.

A recent governmental reorganization also highlights the importance Beijing attaches to its water resources, including the establishment in May of the Municipal Water Affairs Bureau. The reshuffle incorporates all water-related functions formerly scattered among different governmental organs, such as water resources management, supply, savings, sewage treatment, into one administration. Officials say such a move will optimize the management of the city's precious water resources, help build a water-thrifty society and promote the industrialization and marketization of its water affairs.

(With some information from Xinhua, China Daily and AFP reports)