"Water demand during the 2008 Olympics will be guaranteed," said Wu Jisong, director of the water supply program under the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

Wu's confident response belies what is, to say the least, a difficult situation. Beijing has received negative publicity for its shortage of water resources. The city's water supply per capita is less than 300 cubic meters, one eighth of the national average and one thirtieth of the world average. Beijing's supply of water for each person falls well below the world shortage level of 1,000 cubic meters.

During the Olympics in August 2008, Beijing, which has a stable population of 14.76 million, plus an estimated 4 million migrant workers, will accommodate an extra 2.5 million temporary residents. How can the city ensure there's enough water for everyone?

Transferring water

"To lessen the strain on water resources, we will initiate the plan to increase the water supply from the upper stream," said Wu, former head of the Department of Water Resources Management under the Ministry of Water Resources.

He said Beijing would strive for the goal of an actual water supply of 100 million cubic meters in 2008. "But for the time being, water transfer faces two problems. One is that the upper stream also lacks water; another is that water loss due to evaporation is enormous, as is leakage during lengthy water transfers," said Wu. He added that one method to enhance water transfer efficiency is to shorten the traveling time.

According to Wu, the water transfer route is 180 kilometers in its entirety. The source is a reservoir in the central province of Shanxi, which will supply more than half of Beijing's water needs.

According to policies on guaranteeing water resources at the Beijing Olympics drafted by government agencies, if necessary, the south-to-north water transfer project could be activated ahead of time to transfer water from the Yellow River to Beijing. Emergency plans have also been put forward to guarantee a sufficient water supply during the Olympic Games.

At present, water facilities in Beijing's city proper can supply a maximum of 2.75 million tons of water every day. Water experts estimate that during the Olympics, Beijing's daily consumption of water could peak at between 2.7 million tons and 2.75 million tons. The Beijing Municipal Government has put nearly 500 million yuan into the rebuilding and expansion of key water plants under the Beijing Tap Water Group.

The plan is that by the end of 2007, Beijing's water supply capacity will reach between 3 million tons and 3.1 million tons, far above the predicted actual peak demand.

Water conservation

The Beijing Water Authority was founded in 2004 to deal with all water-related affairs. One of its founding principles is to thoroughly use all ground water, surface water and rainwater.

Bi Xiaogang, Vice Director of the Beijing Water Authority, noted on a recent occasion that Beijing has achieved considerable progress in water conservation, water safety and improvement of the water environment, and has realized or is realizing commitments made in the city's Olympic bid.

Water conservation has been a buzzword in the design and construction of Olympic facilities, including stadiums and the Olympic Park. The National Swimming Center, which has earned the nickname of "Water Cube" for its surreal design, has three huge swimming pools that altogether evaporate over 1 ton of water every hour. The architect considered the idea of water conservation in designing the venue. All swimming pools are intended to be covered by a plastic membrane or other material at night when no swimming is taking place, saving a large amount of water.

Fengtai Softball Center has four fields for games or training, totaling 13,000 square meters. To maintain the grass-covered fields at Olympic standards, more than 100,000 tons of tap water is needed every year. The softball center was expanded from one field, which had no water-saving or water-recycling facilities. A water reclaiming system is being constructed as an affiliated project, and is expected to be in use by the end of this year.

The reclaiming system will dispose of daily sewage from the softball center and surrounding residential communities, as well as rainwater, through deposition, oxidation, filtering, sterilization and disinfection. Over 80,000 tons of reclaimed water could be yielded this way, which would almost satisfy the demand of grass watering at the softball center.

Rainwater management

The squares around the softball center are covered with special bricks allowing water penetration. These bricks attract water like a sponge and facilitate water penetration into the earth. By this means, rainwater could quickly supplement ground water and this new kind of brick will be widely adopted in the construction of Olympic stadiums.

The grass fields in the stadiums are also designed for the convenient collection of rainwater. After falling on the field, rainwater can quickly penetrate the sand bed and cobblestones under the grass and run into collection channels. The collected rainwater will in turn be used to water the grass. Originally a big drain on water supplies, the potential of grass fields in water conservation is being more fully applied.

The architectural design of the "Water Cube" also supports the function of collecting and recycling rainwater. Rainwater falling on the roof will be gathered in an underground reservoir and reused.

Duan Wei, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Beijing Water Authority, said his administration has experienced a change in approach toward rain, from preventing flooding to rainwater management. In fact, this new concept has already taken effect in different communities and parks of Beijing. Duan said the use of rainwater to water urban green areas and wash cars can save up to tens of thousands of tons of tap water per year.

For the last five years, Beijing has invested several billion yuan in building six new sewage treatment plants. Beijing is planning to build another eight sewage treatment plants before 2008. By then, Beijing's total amount of reclaimed water being reused is expected to surpass 600 million tons, about one sixth of the city's total annual water consumption.

By 2008, Beijing intends to increase its water surface area from the current 5,500 hectares to 13,000 hectares. The Olympic village will build a lake of 200 hectares. One noteworthy thing is that the supplementary water source of these lakes and pools is reclaimed water. Through ecological means such as the purification effect of water by wetlands and water plants, water could be completely recycled in a park.

"Both the sewage treatment rate and reclaimed water usage rate will reach 100 percent," Duan said. "This means all the wastewater from the parks could be recycled and reused."