The Water Flows From the South

The recent Olympic Winter Games in Beijing reminded observers that the capital area is one of the driest regions in China. A few years ago, it was only a reservoir in southern China that kept it from running out of water. Not a single raindrop or snowflake fell on the city between October 23, 2017 and March 17, 2018. It was the city’s longest drought since meteorological record-keeping began. But Beijing residents didn’t have to limit their consumption because water continued to flow from the South. The so-called South-North transfer is the largest water diversion project in history. The precious liquid has been pumped from China’s rain-soaked South to its arid North over two routes: from the Danjiangkou reservoir to a Yangtse tributary, and from the old imperial canal into the Yangtse port city of Tianjin. At its maximum capacity, the North-South project can send up to 25 billion cubic meters (882 billion cubic feet) northward, year in and year out. The city uses it to cover 70 percent of its drinking water needs and simultaneously solve a major problem: The water table beneath the city has fallen over the years – because Beijing was drawing drinking water from its own groundwater and from surrounding reservoirs.

“Too much water is still wasted in Beijing,” Ma said. “People do not have a well-developed awareness of the problem.” Most of Beijing’s residents live in large housing complexes. They often consist of several high-rises, and the management controls their water systems. “Hotels, restaurants and schools consume too much water as well,” Ma said. “The faucets leak, and, the toilets at many sites actually have a water conservation option, but it usually doesn’t work.” Leaks in water lines also account for losses. Moreover, all newly built housing complexes in Beijing have theoretically had to recycle their wastewater for years. But the systems usually don’t work very well.