Water shortages are hindering Beijing's further development, the city's Vice-Mayor Niu Youcheng has said.
"The relationship between water and people should concern us more and be better handled," he said on Wednesday, on the sidelines of an international forum debating the sustainable use of water resources.
Beijing's water levels fall when winter approaches, Jiao Zhizhong, director of Beijing's water authority, said.
Even so, a multi-source water supply scheme scheduled for 2010 should guarantee the water supply, he said.
Using surface, underground and recycled water, rainfall and a giant south-to-north water diversion project will help achieve this, he said.
Currently, drinking water for the city's 15 million people comes mainly from the Miyun reservoir and underground water.
The reservoir has a capacity of nearly 4.4 billion cubic metres, but currently holds just 700 million because of drought in recent years.
This is not enough to satisfy Beijing's thirst. The city consumed 3.43 billion cubic metres of water last year.
The shortfall is made up from underground water and small-scale water diversion projects from neighboring Hebei and Shanxi provinces.
A report by the Guangzhou-based People Week magazine said Beijing's exploitable underground water capacity is 2.5 billion cubic metres per year.
After drought, inefficient use of water is believed to be another major reason for the scarcity of water.
"Wasting water is a much more pressing issue than water shortages," Wu Jisong, an official with China's water resources watchdog, said.
Beginning in the late 1990s, Beijing has experienced a prolonged drought with an annual rainfall of just 600 mm a year on average.
（英语点津 Linda 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from Auckland, New Zealand. Marc has an eclectic career in the media/arts, most recently working as a radio journalist for NewstalkZB, New Zealand’s leading news radio network, as a feature writer for Travel Inc, New Nutrition Business (UK) and contributor for Mana Magazine and the Sunday Star Times. Marc is also a passionate arts educator and is involved in various media/theatre projects in his native New Zealand and Singapore where he is currently based. Marc joins the China Daily with support from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
