China's capital started pumping "emergency" water from its long-parched neighbouring province on Thursday, with officials speaking of a "grim" shortfall weeks after the Olympics when they said the city had enough water.
Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, will pump 300 million cubic metres of water to the capital from three dams which usually supply nearby farms, towns and cities, the province water office said on its website (www.hebwater.gov.cn). Officials said the capital faced a serious shortfall but made no secret of the strains the transfer places on Hebei, which faces its own chronic water scarcity.
"Owing to continuous drought in recent years, the water situation in the capital Beijing is grim and water sources are quite strained," said a statement on the website, adding that the two government had reached an agreement on the supplies.
"This water is being transferred in circumstances when our province's water resources are extremely scarce and is an emergency transfer." The water will flow through a 309-km (192-mile) canal quickly built for the Beijing Olympics that will later form part of the larger South-to-North Water Transfer Project. During the Games in August, city officials said they did not need the "emergency" supplies that Hebei and nearby provinces set aside in case the "green" Games host city faced shortages. "I believe the Olympic Games will not pose a big challenge to water supplies in the city," Water Ministry official Hu Siyi told reporters in mid-August.