A groundwater project that may provide Beijingers with 100 million cubic meters of water annually has just been completed on the northeastern outskirts of the capital, according to the Beijing Urban Construction Company.

The project is one of several major efforts to quench the city's thirst. Per capita water availability in the capital is just one-32nd of the international average.

A similar project, located in Zhangfang, Fangshan District, on the southwestern outskirts of Beijing, was also finished early this month, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. The project will take the place of the Miyun Reservoir, Beijing's primary water source, in supplying the water-guzzling Yanshan Petrochemical Company.

Following several consecutive years of drought, Beijing decided last year to find new water sources to cope with the soaring demand from the expanding population and industry.

The first groundwater project, located in Huairou District, was finished last September. It provides the city with 330,000 cubic meters of water every day, according to the Beijing Water Bureau.

A project to divert water from four reservoirs in neighboring Hebei Province was started in December last year and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2006.

Meanwhile, local meteorologists are speculatively eyeing each passing cloud as the city increases its cloud-seeding efforts.

During the first half of this year, 16 flights were made, 429 rockets launched and 1,931 anti-aircraft artillery shells fired to seed clouds with dry ice.

Mother Nature also provided a helping hand in bringing moisture to the parched city this year. Between July 20 and August 10, 108 millimeters of rain fell, compared with just 32 millimeters in the same period last year. The city's Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters reports, however, that this year's flood-season rainfall was still lower than the level considered normal.

Nevertheless, the rain helped replenish the long-dwindling supplies in the Miyun Reservoir.

(China Daily August 19, 2004)