Despite lengthy and costly efforts to cure one of Beijing's waterways of pollution, the northeastern Xiaoyue River has started to stink again. 

Just two months and 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) ago, a section of the 5-kilometre river was clean and smell-free for the first time since the 1990s, thanks to efforts by the local government.

The section ran through a park which preserves relics dating back to the ancient capital in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368).

"But now, as you see, waste water from restaurants, hospitals and residents' homes has been directly discharged into the river," said one local resident who is now forced to keep his windows tightly shut.

A string of new bars that opened along the river in September is witnessing problems because of the stink.

New bar owner Li Xiling said: "I invested hundreds of thousands of yuan in my bar. But like the rest of more than 30 bars along the river, we get less than 10 customers a day on average," she said.

The renovation of the park and the bar street cost the local government millions of yuan in 2003, sources with the park administrative office said.

"It is really beyond my power to solve the problem of the smelly river," said director Chen Wanming.

He said there was no waste water discharge pipe in the area around the park at all, and different bodies have been arguing as to whose jurisdiction the provision of a water discharge pipe should fall under.

"Waste water goes straight into the river," he said.

"The problem of no waste discharge pipe was down to the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission."

An official surnamed Shi with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Water Resources, admitted that in response to complaints, they had discovered in October that waste water was still going into the river.

Sun Shengjie, the bar street management office director under Chen's administration office, said she had heard the area would be equipped with pipes by 2006 when the No.5 metro line is completed.

The line is being built now by the side of the park.

Sun complained that the smelly river was probably the main reason for the new bar street to have failed where Sanlitun and Houhai were drinking successes.

"We have better facilities than Sanlitun and Houhai, but we have far fewer customers," she said.

Sun said there are two parking lots for the bar street, where up to 400 cars can be parked.

"But it seems that we lost out because of the filthy water."

The park has also built a dock for pleasure boats.

"The service has not been popular because of the unpleasant water," Sun said.

Chen said he has appealed to the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Water Resources to solve the problem.

"But so far no time schedule for dealing with the river has been given by the government departments," he said.

"It is still bearable in cold winter. But what can we do in the summer, when the heat will make the smell unbearable?" asked one resident.

(China Daily January 20, 2005)