soc.culture.asian.american

Heavely Disapproving of The Inhuman Beijing Olympics -- China's Olympic
water province faces severe drought

-- Micky's HO: The Chinese are punished by nature's wrath during the
year of the Olympics, it seems the sign of "8888" did not bring China
any luck. --

China's Olympic water province faces severe drought

Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:00am EST

Corrects conversion of 33,000 sq km in last paragraph.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The north Chinese province of Hebei, which will
supply arid Beijing with much of its water for the summer Olympics, is
suffering severe drought, with half a million residents likely to face
hardships with drinking water.

Hebei lies next to China's national capital and has long provided the
city's 16 million residents with most of their water.

With Beijing's water demand during the Olympics expected to spike by up
to 30 percent above average, reaching 2.75 million cubic meters a day,
Hebei has been recruited to supply an extra 300 million cubic meters of
"back-up" supplies.

But on Tuesday the official Hebei Daily said lack of winter rain and
snow had intensified the drought, leaving some reservoirs dangerously low.

"Due to the lack of effective precipitation since the winter, Hebei
province is experiencing severe drought," the newspaper said, citing
officials in the provincial flood and drought office.

Since the start of winter which has been unusually cold in the south,
average precipitation across Hebei had been 7 mm, 60 percent below the
long-term average.

"The severe drought has created tense conditions for fighting drought
and for water supplies in our province, and the conflict between water
supply and demand has been dramatically exacerbated."

China is rushing to finish the canals from Hebei to Beijing for its
"green" Games, ensuring a lush, sparkling host city greets the world in
August. The 309 km (192 miles) of channels and pipes will draw on four
Hebei dams.

But the report said the province's dams were in trouble. "Some dams are
below stagnant levels, and some irrigation areas have no water to
supply," it said.

It did not say whether the four dams tapped to supply the Olympics were
among them.

While much of China's southern half endured freakish cold and snow in
recent months, the north, including Beijing, has seen very little snow
or rain, leaving much farmland parched.

Drought has affected 1.89 million head of livestock and left 2.43
million people without sufficient drinking water in Shandong,
Heilongjiang and Hebei provinces, the State Flood Control and Drought
Relief Headquarters said recently.

Now 250,000 Hebei residents faced "temporary hardship" with drinking
water, and by March that number was expected to rise to 500,000, said
the new report, which was republished on the official Xinhua news agency
Web site (www.xinhuanet.com).

The report said 33,000 sq km (12,740 sq miles) of farmland across its
total 190,000 sq km were drought-stricken. Aquifer water levels on the
Hebei plains had fallen one to two meters since the same time last year.
And 50,000 wells had been left useless.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)