Beijing Water

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The Issue

Beijing, once famous for its sweet spring water and clear-flowing rivers, is running out of water. To keep the taps flowing with clean water for the 2008 Olympic Games and beyond, Beijing is pumping its groundwater dry and draining water from distant reservoirs and rivers.

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Latest News

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A river will run through it: project seeks to restore the Yongding River in Beijing

Brady Yauch
03/18/2010

Officials in Beijing have approved a plan to rebuild the once-flowing Yongding river in the southwest corner of the city. According to reports, officials have agreed to spend 17-billion RMB ($2.48-billion) to construct an ecosystem of interconnected creeks and lakes.  read more »

As economy booms, China faces major water shortage

Steven Mufson
03/16/2010

A decade ago, China's leaders gave the go-ahead to a colossal plan to bring more than 8 trillion gallons of water a year from the rivers of central China to the country's arid north. The project would have erected towering dams, built hundreds of miles of pipelines and tunnels, and created vast reservoirs with a price tag three times that of the giant Three Gorges Dam.  read more »

Beijing once again turning to Hebei to solve its water problems

Brady Yauch
03/09/2010

Beijing’s worsening water crisis is once again forcing its neighbouring province Hebei to sacrifice more of its dwindling reserves. According to a recent report from China Daily, Hebei is expected to open four of its reservoirs this year in an effort to help cover demand in the country's water-starved capital.   read more »

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Sources

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Peak water? The limits of a resource

Michael F. Forlenza, P.G. - HGS Editor
05/29/2009

Wise management and sustainable development of the world’s water resources is a task that has been postponed too long.  Much of the world is in crisis and parts of the United States are rapidly approaching that point. Water-poor regions can no longer expect to put off addressing the problem by pumping ever greater amounts of relict groundwater from shrinking aquifers. Geoscientists should play a leading role in designing innovative solutions such as aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) where seasonally-surplus water supplies are banked in porous underground formations for later use.  read more »

Beijing's Water Crisis: 1949-2008 Olympics

06/26/2008

Beijing's policy of draining surrounding regions to ease water shortages in the ancient capital is akin to "quenching thirst by drinking poison," according to a new report by Probe International's Beijing-based researchers.  read more »

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Oral Histories

Jiayukou Village on Great Rock River

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In the early chilly part of the spring of 1971, after I finished ninth grade, I was sent with nine school friends to Jiayukou Village, which was on Great Rock River (Da shi he) in Fangshan County. Our group of “educated youth” went there to live for three years and be “re-educated.”  read more »

Magic Water Village of Mentougou District

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Our village, Magic Water Village, is right next to a mountain, which doesn’t belong to any of the surrounding mountain ranges, so we call it Solitary Mountain or Dushan. Looking down from a plane, it looks similar to a lotus petal, so we also call it Lotus Flower Mountain or Lianhua Shan. It is made of really hard rock, quite unlike limestone and because it has never weathered over the years, the mountain is called “Inspired Volcanic Rock.” How this rock could be put to use in the future, no one knows yet.  read more »

Old Beijing's Goldfish Ponds

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Seventy years ago, when I was very young, we lived right near a place called Lucao yuan or Reed-Grass Gardens in Chongwenmen District. You might ask why it was called Lucao yuan. The reason is that in those days there was a large lake with a lot of reeds in that area. Xianyu kou or Fresh Fish Junction was close to our home. Many of the old hutong (laneways) were arranged on an angle because they followed the direction of the old river, and all the houses had been built along its banks.  read more »

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Olympic Report

Beijing's Water Crisis: 1949-2008 Olympics

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Beijing's policy of draining surrounding regions to ease water shortages in the ancient capital is akin to "quenching thirst by drinking poison," according to a new report by Probe International's Beijing-based researchers.

Read the full report below.

Full Story PDF: 
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Map of Beijing Municipality Watershed323.72 KB

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Maps

Download a pdf of Beijing Municipality Watershed or click on the thumbnails below:

Beijing Watershed Map Link Beijing Waterways & Parks Map Link Heibei-Beijing Water Diversion Link China South North Diversion Scheme Map link

 

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Blogs

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China in the next 60 years: Dai Qing

Environmentalist and dissident writer Dai Qing provides her take on what the future holds for China.  read more »

India and China depleting aquifers

India and China may differ in their political structures—the former the world's most populous democracy, the latter the most populace one-party state—but they share a ruinous use of ground water in which each is draining their aquifers faster than they can be replenished.  read more »

But she seems so happy...

A recent article in China Daily details the beginning of what will be the second largest relocation project in China’s history—just behind the Three Gorges dam. The article, and the picture shown above, make light of the relocations, saying the residents are receiving compensation and keys to fully-equipped apartments in downtown areas.  read more »

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