By Jonathan Watts of The Guardian, Beijing
Millions of liters of water are being diverted to Beijing from areas hit by drought, threatening supplies for the capital's neighbors
When seven white swans made a home on the Chaobai River in northeast Beijing last year, it was hailed as an Olympic success story. Until a few years ago, the waterway was so overexploited that the bed was cracked dry.
Now the river has been refilled and the wildlife brought back, ready for rowing events in August. For Beijing, it was a showcase of how the "green" games can improve the environment. But four months on, green activists are asking whether this and other cosmetic clean-ups are depriving arid regions of water during a severe drought.
Thanks to a huge diversion, the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park project has turned a dry river and its banks into a lush resort with a water surface of 63 hectares and a green area of 53 hectares. It is not the only hydro-engineering facelift. Beijing is diverting millions of liters of water to ensure the dry and dusty city looks its best during the Olympics.
Workers are rushing to complete a huge canal that will channel water from the Yangtze and other rivers in southern China to the parched but densely populated north.
"In order to preserve the quality of Beijing's water we have to close all our factories."
An Qiyuan, Shaanxi Province official
Reservoirs around Beijing are being tapped to flush out the foul, polluted waterways in the center of the city and to fill the fountains and keep the grass green in the Olympic park. Meteorologists are even firing silver iodine crystals into the clouds to induce rain.
This work means that other needy areas are going dry. Last year, farmers in neighboring Hebei Province were told to grow corn or wheat instead of water-intensive rice. Tens of thousands of people have been relocated for a 309km section of the water diversion project that will redirect 300 million cubic meters of water from Hebei. In any year this would be a sacrifice.
But this year's drought is severe. Last week the Hebei Daily said levels of winter rain and snow were 60 percent below the long-term average, leaving many reservoirs at very low levels.
"The severe drought has created tense conditions for water supplies in our province, and the conflict between water supply and demand has been dramatically exacerbated," it said.
Like many other Olympic projects, the water diversion was being planned anyway. Beijing needs more water because it has more flush toilets, more ornamental lakes, more building sites and more people. The population -- soon expected to hit 18 million -- has more than quadrupled since the 1960s.
But the Olympics is an excuse to accelerate development. The games are such a national priority that few dare risk being accused of lacking patriotism.
Tensions are apparent. Last week, a senior official in Shaanxi Province -- which is also being tapped for Beijing -- warned of social, economic and environmental disaster.
"In order to preserve the quality of Beijing's water we have to close all our factories. But we still need to live. So I say the government needs to compensate Shaanxi," An Qiyuan (安啟元), chairman of the Chinese people's political consultative committee for Shaanxi, told the Financial Times.
Activists accuse Beijing of sacrificing its neighbors.
"Using drinking water from Hebei and other poor provinces to provide for luxuries in Beijing is wrong," said Dai Qing (戴晴), a leading environmental activist. "Beijing will ensure the city has enough clean water in August, but it will only be temporary. In the longer term, the water crisis will worsen."
She said the park at Chaobai was the worst example of waste because it required filling a dry river and building one of the world's biggest fountains.
"This was a dry river. Why do they have to use this area for competition?" Dai said.
The water's origins are mysterious. The government insists the river is being filled from the Wenyu, a smaller Beijing waterway used for effluent, but Dai says the volume is insufficient. She suspects the water is from already depleted groundwater supplies and reservoirs.
Despite reports that the Olympics will raise water consumption by 30 percent, the Beijing City water bureau insists supplies diverted from Hebei and Shaanxi are for normal use, urban development and increased population.
"We never said we need extra water for the Olympics," said Yu Yaping (俞亞平), the bureau's propaganda director. "We don't know if the total volume of water will increase this year. In fact we are trying to promote measures to save water."
Such is the sensitivity that even the scale of the drought is hard to confirm.
"We can't give you any statistics. Our reservoir is too important to Beijing and to the Olympics. We can't tell you the trend," said an official of Miyun reservoir, who declined to give his name.
But the vice director of the rowing park, Zhang Xiangdong (張香東), insisted his project was a success.
"This was dry seven years ago. From last year, 40 million cubic meters of water is flowing into the Chaobai every year. We now have more than 100 kinds of trees that produce 50,000 tonnes of oxygen, which is good for the air. Last autumn, we had our first swans. Can you imagine how excited we felt? And by August, the Chaobai will be full," Zhang said.
2008年3月2日 星期日
2007年12月30日 星期日
The Other Liquid Gold
by Charles Wheelan, Ph.D
I've spent the last two weeks in the Middle East, mostly in Jordan and Israel. Among other challenges, these are both countries that have "problems with liquids," as one of my hosts explained. Neither country has any oil to speak of. And neither has enough water.
Indeed, one Jordanian businessman argued that the country is foolish to be exporting tomatoes and watermelons -- because the water they suck up and take with them out of the country is worth more than the fruit.
Down the Drain
After two weeks of talking about (and experiencing) scarce water, I've begun to wonder if the United States is paying nearly enough attention to water issues. Skyrocketing oil prices seem to have caught most of us off guard. Wouldn't it have been nice if we'd caught that one before prices soared to $100 a barrel? We have that chance with water.
There's plenty of evidence that the country already has water issues. Much of the Southeast was in drought all fall. In the Southwest, communities have been springing up and growing at a rate likely to outstrip the region's long-term water resources, at least if swimming pools and landscaped lawns in the desert remain the norm.
Even in the Great Lakes states the water issue has come up. I recently attended an academic presentation entitled "Is Water the Next Oil?" The speaker made two main points. First, water drawn from the Great Lakes is often not returned there, causing water levels to fall. Much runoff and sewage drain into other waterways, such as the Mississippi River, and ultimately run out sea.
Wake Up and Smell the Water
More provocatively, she asked what will happen when some parts of the country have enough water and others don't. When Nevada residents realize that there isn't enough water to support the recent housing boom, will U.S. taxpayers be asked to pipe new water to them? (Midwest voters won't like the expense of it, or having "their" Great Lakes piped out of town.) Think about that one for a while.
Perhaps the United States will never face major long-term water shortages. If that turns out to be the case, then great. We won't have to agonize over how much water we're sending out of the country every time we export a watermelon.
Or maybe we will. If you believe that there's a realistic chance that water is the next oil, then now is the time for the affected parties to wake up to that possibility:
Government: The most important role for government is to define the relevant property rights. Who "owns" the relevant water resources? Who gets to draw on them, and at what price?
The only thing worse than a scarce resource is a scarce resource with ambiguous property rights. Suppose Las Vegas does run short of water. Can Nevada demand a share of Lake Michigan?
There are secondary government policies that make sense in any case. Water ought to be priced sensibly, meaning: 1) Those who use more ought to pay more; and 2) Nobody ought to get subsidized rates -- not farmers, not water park owners, not anybody. If we don't price water as a scarce resource, then we'll pretty much ensure that no one will treat it as such.
I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations that go something like this:
Me: "You ought to pay the same price for water as everybody else."
Subsidized Water User: "What? Are you crazy? If I had to pay that much for water, I wouldn't be able to make any money growing rice here."
Me: "Perhaps it doesn't make much sense for you to be growing rice in the desert."
Subsidized Water User: "Do you know where I'm going to stick this irrigation pipe?"
And so on.
Business: What if the price of water doubled or tripled? That sounds unlikely, but so did oil at $90 or $100 a barrel. The underlying reality is that we're using more of a resource that exists in fixed supply. At a minimum, you should be asking how your business would change if you couldn't get unlimited cheap water. What opportunities would that create?
Environmentalists: Take 20 minutes off from the global warming campaign to think about water. There are many simple and inexpensive measures that can be taken at the local level to conserve water. For example, Chicago is considering permeable alleys, rather than asphalt, so that rain water will seep back into the water table instead of running into sewers that ultimately drain away from the city and Lake Michigan.
Investors: Do you want to own your own A380? Invent a cheaper way to desalinate and distribute sea water. That's what Israel and Jordan are trying to figure out right now. The rest of us could be there eventually.
Water on the Brain
Given the economic costs and political turmoil caused by the scarcity of oil over the past century, it would behoove us to take some time to think about the other precious liquid -- the one we really can't live without. Water -- it's clear liquid gold.
I've spent the last two weeks in the Middle East, mostly in Jordan and Israel. Among other challenges, these are both countries that have "problems with liquids," as one of my hosts explained. Neither country has any oil to speak of. And neither has enough water.
Indeed, one Jordanian businessman argued that the country is foolish to be exporting tomatoes and watermelons -- because the water they suck up and take with them out of the country is worth more than the fruit.
Down the Drain
After two weeks of talking about (and experiencing) scarce water, I've begun to wonder if the United States is paying nearly enough attention to water issues. Skyrocketing oil prices seem to have caught most of us off guard. Wouldn't it have been nice if we'd caught that one before prices soared to $100 a barrel? We have that chance with water.
There's plenty of evidence that the country already has water issues. Much of the Southeast was in drought all fall. In the Southwest, communities have been springing up and growing at a rate likely to outstrip the region's long-term water resources, at least if swimming pools and landscaped lawns in the desert remain the norm.
Even in the Great Lakes states the water issue has come up. I recently attended an academic presentation entitled "Is Water the Next Oil?" The speaker made two main points. First, water drawn from the Great Lakes is often not returned there, causing water levels to fall. Much runoff and sewage drain into other waterways, such as the Mississippi River, and ultimately run out sea.
Wake Up and Smell the Water
More provocatively, she asked what will happen when some parts of the country have enough water and others don't. When Nevada residents realize that there isn't enough water to support the recent housing boom, will U.S. taxpayers be asked to pipe new water to them? (Midwest voters won't like the expense of it, or having "their" Great Lakes piped out of town.) Think about that one for a while.
Perhaps the United States will never face major long-term water shortages. If that turns out to be the case, then great. We won't have to agonize over how much water we're sending out of the country every time we export a watermelon.
Or maybe we will. If you believe that there's a realistic chance that water is the next oil, then now is the time for the affected parties to wake up to that possibility:
Government: The most important role for government is to define the relevant property rights. Who "owns" the relevant water resources? Who gets to draw on them, and at what price?
The only thing worse than a scarce resource is a scarce resource with ambiguous property rights. Suppose Las Vegas does run short of water. Can Nevada demand a share of Lake Michigan?
There are secondary government policies that make sense in any case. Water ought to be priced sensibly, meaning: 1) Those who use more ought to pay more; and 2) Nobody ought to get subsidized rates -- not farmers, not water park owners, not anybody. If we don't price water as a scarce resource, then we'll pretty much ensure that no one will treat it as such.
I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations that go something like this:
Me: "You ought to pay the same price for water as everybody else."
Subsidized Water User: "What? Are you crazy? If I had to pay that much for water, I wouldn't be able to make any money growing rice here."
Me: "Perhaps it doesn't make much sense for you to be growing rice in the desert."
Subsidized Water User: "Do you know where I'm going to stick this irrigation pipe?"
And so on.
Business: What if the price of water doubled or tripled? That sounds unlikely, but so did oil at $90 or $100 a barrel. The underlying reality is that we're using more of a resource that exists in fixed supply. At a minimum, you should be asking how your business would change if you couldn't get unlimited cheap water. What opportunities would that create?
Environmentalists: Take 20 minutes off from the global warming campaign to think about water. There are many simple and inexpensive measures that can be taken at the local level to conserve water. For example, Chicago is considering permeable alleys, rather than asphalt, so that rain water will seep back into the water table instead of running into sewers that ultimately drain away from the city and Lake Michigan.
Investors: Do you want to own your own A380? Invent a cheaper way to desalinate and distribute sea water. That's what Israel and Jordan are trying to figure out right now. The rest of us could be there eventually.
Water on the Brain
Given the economic costs and political turmoil caused by the scarcity of oil over the past century, it would behoove us to take some time to think about the other precious liquid -- the one we really can't live without. Water -- it's clear liquid gold.
訂閱：
文章 (Atom)
