Groundwater table set to rise again
Print Edition
BEIJING’S groundwater table is likely to rise for a second year thanks to increased rainfall, curbs on excessive groundwater use and increased water diverted from the south.
At the end of last year, the groundwater table in the capital was 25.23 meters deep, 0.52 meters higher than the year before, said Hu Bo, an official with the Beijing Water Authority.
“It’s good news that the groundwater table is rising,” he said. “The city has made efforts and the weather has also helped.”
Huang Zhenfang, chief engineer with the Beijing Hydrologic Station, said: “The groundwater table is likely to continue to rise this year as a result of expected increased rainfall and other efforts.”
Fast economic growth and rapid increase in population had decreased the groundwater table in Beijing from 7.24 meters in 1980 to 25.75 meters in 2015.
Huang said the city’s total precipitation for 2016 was 660 millimeters, 13 percent higher than the average between 1956 and 1999.
A south-to-north water diversion project also helped relieve water shortages, with more than 30 million cubic meters of diverted water added to groundwater in 2015 and 2016, Huang said.
Conservation efforts helped reduce water use for agriculture by 40 million cubic meters last year, Huang said. Currently, more than 70 percent of the tap water in Beijing’s main urban areas comes from the Yangtze, thanks to the south-to-north water diversion project.
By early June, Beijing had received around 2.28 billion cubic meters of Yangtze water since the project began pumping water into the city in December 2014, according to the Beijing Waterworks Group.
The city’s annual water resources averaged only 2.1 billion cubic meters over the past decade. The gap has been filled by groundwater, recycled water and water diverted from other regions.
The city plans to increase the use of recycled water to 1.2 billion cubic meters in 2020.
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