Comment

Drought in the southwest a timely warning

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-29 07:56

With southwest China hit by a drought, there have been renewed public appeals for water conservation in Beijing.

Novelist Zheng Yuanjie recently called on Beijingers to wash their cars by themselves. In his blog he wrote that if water-rich Yunnan can be hit by a drought, Beijing, one of the Chinese cities most plagued by water shortages, may expect that one day its water will be as expensive as oil. What happens in Yunnan today could happen in Beijing tomorrow.

On average, Beijingers each have at their disposal less than 180 cubic meters of water. However, how many of us, whether government offices, companies, family or individuals, take saving water seriously?

At present, the city uses about 220,000 tons of water just to flush toilets every day.

In total, toilets consume about 80 to 100 million tons of water per year, an equivalent of 40 Kunming lakes. And the government departments concerned simply cannot do anything about it.

A total of 700 km of pipes in the city's water system are prone to breakdowns. As much as 15.9 percent of water leaks due to worn, overworked and poorly-managed pipes. Since the daily supply of running water is 2.45 million cubic meters, the leaked water can be estimated at equaling an equivalent of 71 Kunming lakes each year.

However, who cares if a water tap leaks in public facilities?

Beijing boasts a huge car wash industry, with more than 9,000 car washes across the city.

It is estimated water used in car washes exceeds more than 30 million cubic meters a year, an equivalent of 15 Kunming lakes.

Also the city has 38 golf courses that are believed to consume more than 20 million cubic meters of water per year, an equivalent of 10 Kunming lakes, and it has 1,045 spas and bathhouses, each using about 15,000 tons of water per year.

And Beijing has more and more ski resorts.

According to manufacturers of snow-making machines, it takes 1 ton of water to make 2 cubic meters of snow and one such machine requires 15 to 16 tons of water per hour. A ski resort of a decent size usually has seven to eight snow-making machines.

So will the officials who approve these projects be more restrained during a time of drought?

These are the realities of the management of water resources in the city. Although Beijing is not water-rich, the consumption and waste are shockingly huge, only to be made worse by poor management. But the water crisis is hidden underneath the glitzy urban prosperity.

The drought in southwest China is a timely warning for Beijing. Citizens need to take responsibility for water saving in their daily lives.

More importantly, water conservancy needs better management and systematic reform. The local government has realized that economics will play a decisive role in the reasonable use and distribution of water resources.

The progressive charges for water use, to start this year, is a good beginning, but it's far from enough.

Excerpts of an editorial that appeared in Beijing News on March 25.