For anyone wishing to understand the water problems facing mainland cities, there is no better place to start than Beijing, where an intrinsic scarcity of water is made worse by a whole range of human and natural factors.
The capital's water shortage has been compounded by chronic drought, pollution, massive wastefulness, delays in building the South-North Water Diversion Project, stalled water pricing reforms and, last but not least, the lack of a sense of crisis within the government.
After a decade-long drought, Beijing has seen more rain than usual this year, with the most rainfall between January and mid-August since 1998 and nearly 20 per cent above average. However, it seems to have done little to quench the capital's thirst. At least 120 million cubic metres of fresh water were pumped from four reservoirs in neighbouring Hebei province in the past month as an emergency solution to Beijing's surging demand this summer, Caijing Magazine reported. 'It is almost like bleeding the disadvantaged dry,' complained a water conservation official in Hebei, one of the driest provinces.
Beijing began channelling water from its arid neighbours, Hebei and Shanxi, in 2003 and sharply increased the diversion from Hebei to as much as 400 million cubic metres a year when it began preparations for the 2008 Olympics.
The people affected - including those in Hubei and Shaanxi who live in water-source areas for the south-north project - have made few attempts to hide their bitterness towards Beijing's runaway expansion and its insatiable demand for fresh water at their expense.
For instance, tens of thousands of Hebei farmers from more than 200 villages near Beijing were forced to turn 6,800 hectares of rice paddies into cornfields from 2007 to save more water for the capital. The meagre compensation they received, 6,750 yuan a hectare, was barely enough to cover their losses. However, their sacrifice still seems far from sufficient to help Beijing avoid a looming water crisis. Beijing's per capita water resources have plunged in recent years and hit a low of 100 cubic metres this year - far below the internationally acknowledged danger limit of 1,000 cubic metres, Xinhua reported in May.
A recent survey in six major cities by Friends of Nature, a mainland environmental group, underscored people's heightened sense of urgency over the worsening water problems. Nearly 90 per cent of Beijing residents said the water shortage - along with water pollution and overuse of groundwater - was a pressing issue that needed to be addressed immediately.