(December 11, 2008) China has postponed completion of its multi-billion dollar water transfer scheme to bring water from the Yangtze river to Beijing, citing water pollution and other environmental risks as the reason for pushing the completion date back four years, official media reported last week.
Failing water scheme leaves Beijing high and dry
(December 9, 2008) The completion date for an engineering mega-project to bring water from a tributary of the River Yangtze in the wet south of China to the capital city, in the arid north, has been postponed again.
Pollution concealed by Beijing
(November 18, 2008) China’s coal industry has hidden annual costs of 159 billion pounds in damage to health and the environment, according to Chinese experts.
Over 70% Beijing rivers in poor conditions
The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau says the rivers and lakes in the capital’s downtown are generally in terrible condition.
Lack of safe drinking water is a daily problem in China
Chemical spills, rampant pollution and poor stewardship of the land have tainted much of the nation’s water supply, and the ground water under 90 percent of China’s cities is contaminated.
Drought leaves 78,000 people short of drinking water in central China
(October 22, 2008) Authorities in central China are considering closing polluting factories and opening a large reservoir to ease a drought that has left 78,000 rural people short of drinking water.
Water Crisis in North China
(October 2, 2008) Beijing’s demand for water is putting pressure on upstream Hebei and Shanxi provinces to tap new supplies. South Wind Window reporter Tian Lei investigates north China’s devastating water crisis.
Beijing’s water policies add to crisis, report says
(June 27, 2008) Water use is expected to surge by 30 percent during the Games, according to Probe International report.
Green Games race against grime
(July 8, 2008) In response to a Probe International report, Beijing Water Authority’s Bi Xiaogang said that the city’s heavy reliance on shrinking groundwater reserves was not ideal.
Olympics suck up China’s already scarce water
(July 14, 2008) “The 500,000 foreign visitors expected to visit Beijing will certainly get to see some beautiful waterworks, such as the largest fountain in the world in Shunyi. No problem! But the question is: what will happen after the Games? How will people cope?” asks journalist Dai Qing.
PRESS RELEASE Beijing’s Water Crisis: 1949-2008 Olympics
(June 26, 2008) Beijing’s Water Transfers Like ‘Quenching Thirst by Drinking Poison,’ Says Report
Beijing’s water supply in state of crisis
(June 26, 2008) China’s ambitious hopes for a “green” Beijing Olympics have magnified, not relieved, the city’s reckless dependence on water from strained underground supplies and a mammoth canal project, a critical reports says.
Olympics water diversion scheme threatens millions
(March 11, 2008) In an interview with the London-based Financial Times, An Qingyuan, a former communist party chief, said the diversion of water to Beijing for the Olympics and for big hydropower projects threatens the lives of millions of peasant farmers in China’s north-western provinces.
Olympics water diversion scheme threatens millions
(March 11, 2008) In an interview with the London-based Financial Times, An Qingyuan, a former communist party chief, said the diversion of water to Beijing for the Olympics and for big hydropower projects threatens the lives of millions of peasant farmers in China’s north-western provinces.
Water safety problems afflict 300 million Chinese people
(November 9, 2007) Chinese top environmental official says “half of the cities in China have severely polluted groundwater; 300 million people in that rural areas are drinking water with safety problems”. China’s NPC passes “The Law to Prevent and Treat Pollution (modified draft) of the People’s Republic of China” on September 5, 2007.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
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