New rules to tackle water shortage in Beijing

China's arid capital is short of 1.3 billion cubic meters of water this year, following successive droughts in the last 13 years, the Beijing-based Legal Affairs Evening News reported Monday, quoting sources inside the Beijing Water Authority.

With a supply capacity of 2.4 billion cubic meters, Beijing is expected to consume 3.7 billion cubic meters of water this year, a year-on-year increase of 2.8 percent, according to Cheng Jing, head of the Beijing Water Authority.

The gaping gap will be filled by recycling 750 million cubic meters of used water, moderately excessively exploiting underground water supplies and diverting water from nearby Hebei province to achieve a basic balance between water consumption and supply, Cheng said.

In addition, new rules on water conservation will come into effect on July 1, including specific regulations on water purification facilities which reportedly produce only one ton of clean water for every three tons of source water. Commonly found in local communities, these notorious water guzzlers will be mandated to recycle their waste water.