Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Drinking water will not be available from taps for those residing outside the Olympic Village during next year’s Olympics. It was the authorities that issued this warning, saying they wanted to guarantee safe water. The billions spent on cleaning and modernizing the Chinese capital have been many but not enough to make water potable.
The vice-director general of the Beijing Water Management Bureau, Bi Xiaogang, said: ''The quality of the water provided by the water plants is safe enough, but it is contaminated during the transfer process. We are still working on upgrading facilities. But in the Olympic Village we will provide safe drinking water from the tap. The party and the government assure supply.”
However, despite improvements put in place, there are still many problems related to the water shortage. There are no big rivers and one can only hope for rain.
Xiaogang continued: “For the Olympics, Beijing will use reserves from the neighbouring Hebei province, diverting up to 400 million cubic metres of water. For 2010, the construction of a canal is planned that will divert water from the Yangtze river to Beijing.”
To make the city look its best for the circa 500,000 visitors expected in Beijing during the 17 days of the Olympic Games, the authorities must tackle, other than the drinking water shortage, traffic and air pollution problems.
Investments in new subway lines, highways, skyscrapers and new water treatment plants amount to US$160 billion.
Beijing not only wants to improve its infrastructure but to implement an educational campaign to guarantee, for example, respect for queues, more polite drivers and a ban on spitting in the street.
