BEIJING: Beijing has seen rising groundwater levels thanks to a massive project that has been diverting water from the Yangtze River basin for about a decade, reaping ecological benefits and satisfying its residents’ thirst.
In recent days, bean geese have been seen flying over the Chaobai River, which is connected to the Miyun Reservoir, a major water source in the northeast of the city.
“These scenes were hard to imagine before as the river had dried up and birds were hardly seen,” said Guo Dongjiang, who works in the Chaobai River management office in Beijing.
Guo said that in the 1990s, the Miyun Reservoir’s water levels began declining due to population surges and rapid urban development. Most sections of Chaobai River had dried up by 1999, and the barren riverbed became a source of sand when it was windy.
Impacted by climate change, Beijing has endured droughts in more than 10 years since 1999. A large amount of groundwater, which once accounted for more than 50 percent of Beijing’s total water usage, was exploited to satisfy the city’s demand, according to Li Minshi, who works at the Beijing hydrological station.
Undesirable consequences emerged, with the groundwater depth in Beijing’s plains dropping from 7.24 meters in 1980 to 25.75 meters in 2015, and many spring water areas drying up, Li said. A turning point was seen in 2014, when China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project began transporting water over long distances from the country’s south to its northern regions. –Agencies
