Water scarcity in Beijing and countermeasures to solve the problem at river basins scale

Abstract

Beijing has been subject to water scarcity in recent decades. Over-exploitation of water resources reduced water availability, and water-saving measures were not enough to mitigate the water scarcity. To address this problem, water transfer projects across river basins are being built. This paper assessed water scarcity in Beijing and the feasibility of solving the problem at river basins scale. The results indicate that there was an average annual water deficit of 13×108 m3 y-1 in Beijing, which totaled 208.9 ×108 m3 for 1998–2014, despite the adoption of various measures to alleviate water scarcity. Three of the adjacent four sub-river basins suffered a serious water deficit from 1998–2014. It was therefore impossible to transfer enough water from the adjacent river basins to mitigate the water scarcity in Beijing. However, the annual water deficit will be eliminated after the comprehensive operation of the world’s largest water transfer project (the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, SNWTP) in 2020, but it will take approximately 200 years before Beijing’s water resources are restored to the 1998 levels.