Dry Beijing to tap water from near province

BEIJING, May 9 (Reuters) Drought-stricken Beijing will divert up to 400 million cubic metres of water a year from neighbouring Hebei province in a bid to safeguard water supplies for the Olympic Games, a top water official said today.

The water, over a tenth of Beijing's 2006 consumption of 3.43 billion cubic metres, would be ready to be pumped from four of the northeastern province's reservoirs by April 2008, Beijing Water Authority deputy head, Bi Xiaojun, told a news conference.

''Water from the Yangtze river will also come to Beijing in 2010 through the south-to-north water diversion project,'' Bi said, referring to a mammoth billion scheme to pump water from China's southern rivers to its arid north.

Bi also said farmers in Hebei upstream from Beijing's major reservoir in Miyun county were being compensated to switch from rice to less water-intensive crops to bolster the capital's water supplies.

''Our policy is welcomed by the farmers,'' said Bi.

Beijing has pledged to ensure adequate water supplies for the Olympics when more than 2 million visitors are expected to descend on the city, but environmental officials have questioned the efficacy of pumping additional water from Hebei, itself suffering from dwindling water supplies.

The arid province had just one-seventh of the national per capita water supply and was suffering from sinking water tables and widespread saline contamination, Xinhua news agency reported in March, citing provincial officials.

Detailing a 2007 work plan to meet clean water targets, Bi said some 520 km of rivers and canals would be spruced up and 2,000 tap-water distribution facilities would be upgraded.

''We are planning the facilities inside the Olympic village to make sure our visitors and all our friends can drink water directly from the taps,'' he said.

Beijing today also said it would close coal mines, move power stations and relocate chemical factories and other heavy polluters including the further dismantling of the city's Shougang steelworks, in a bid to meet environmental targets.

In January, Beijing environment chief Shi Hanmin said officials had targeted a 10 per cent reduction in the city's sulphur dioxide emissions and set a minimum of 245 ''clean air'' days.

REUTERS BJR PM1752