Current situation and management ofwater source in Beijing
Zhou Jun
Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy ,Ministry of Environmental Protection of China

Introduction of PRCEEy Policy Research Center for Environmentand Economy◦ General Affairs Division◦ Environmental Strategy Division◦ Environmental Law Division◦ Environmental Policy Division◦ Institute for International Environmental
PolicySocial-economical conditiony In the past 30 years, the urbanization

progress of Beijing is very fast. The
population had increased several times
that of 1978. The population density has
increased to 1069 people per Km2.
1980199020002009

Population 904.3(10000)1086

1363.61755

y The GDP is also continue increased formany years and keep the growth rate
above 9%. The GDP of 2009 is estimatedto be RMB 1186 billion(nearly US$169billion). The GDP per capita is about US$
10070. The industry structure is 1：23.2：
75.8 which indicated that the third(serving) industry is the major sector inBeijing.

y Figure 1

GDP and growth rate of
2005-2009 in Beijingy There are five river systems across Beijing

which is Jiyun river, Caobai river, Beiyun river,Yongding river and Daqing river.

The annual average precipitation is638mm.
2008

2007

average700
precipitation （mm)

600
500
400
300
200
1000Jiyun
river

Caobairiver

Beiyunriver

Yongyunriver

Daqingriver

The surface water quantity is about 1.279 billion m3.
From the river system, Beiyun river has the largest
runoff volume which is 0.446 billion m3 and Jiyun river
has the lowest precipitation which is 0.053 m3.

runoff volume 0.1 billion m32008

2007

average2015
10
50Jiyunriver

Caobairiver

Beiyunriver

Yongdingriver

Daqingriver

Whole city

y The volume of available water of 18 medium

and large reservoirs in 2008 is 0.755 billion
m3. Miyun and Guangting reservoir are thetwo important water sources for Beijing.
The available water volume of Miyun
reservoir is 0.468 billion m3 and that ofGuangting is 0.08 billion m3.
y The volume of groundwater is 2.142 billionm3.

Table 1 total quantity of water resource of Beijing
in 2008(0.1 billion m3)
annualRiver
Area
precipitatio
system（km2）
nJiyun
1300
8.42
river
Caobai
5510
36.61
river
Beiyun
4250
26.83
river
Yongding
3210
18.07
river
Daqing
2140
14.77
river
City

16410

104.70Surface
watergroundwat Total
eramount

0.53

3.02

3.55

3.44

3.01

6.45

4.46

7.61

12.07

3.22

3.52

6.74

1.14

4.26

5.40

12.79

21.42

34.21

For the water resource use, the total amount is 3.51 billion m3
which includes the 1.47 billion m3 for domestic use, 0.52 billion
m3 for industry use, 1.2 billion m3 for agriculture use and 0.32
billion m3 for environment use.

Agriculture use
34%

Industry use
15%

2008

Domestic use
42%

Environment use
9%Waterscope
qualityIsource water, national nature protection areaII

first level conservation zone of surface water source area for
centralized living drinking waterIIIsecond level conservation zone of surface water source area for
centralized living drinking water, fishery water, swimming areaIV

water for general industry, entertainment which is not touched
directly by human bodyVwater for agriculture, and landscapey The water quality of river is still needed to be improved. 43%

river water has reached the level II water quality standard, 8%
river reached the level III standard, 3% river reached the level
IV standard, 1% river reached the level V standard, and 45%
river water quality is under the level V standard in 2008.
y The water quality of reservoir is relatively better. Only
Guangting reservoir’s water quality reach the level IV
standard, the other reservoir reached the level II or III.
y For the groundwater, we have divided to two categories. The
57% shallow seated groundwater quality reached the level III
and the other is between level Iv and level V. for the deep
seated groundwater, 80% of that reached level III.

y From the above basic information, we can see that the waterquality in Beijing should continue to be improved. Of course, thepressure of urbanization has made it more difficult to improve thewater quality.
y In 2007, the total amount of industry wastewater discharged is91.32 million ton and COD discharged in industry wastewater is
7000 ton. The total amount of domestic wastewater discharged is986.82 million ton and COD discharged in domestic wastewater is
0.1 million ton. The domestic wastewater amount discharged ofBeijing was relative high compared with that of most provinces inChina. Beijing has done a lot of work such as developing
infrastructure to improve the wastewater treatment ratio.
y In 2008, the treatment capacity of wastewater has increased to be3294 thousand m3 per day, the length of sewage pipeline was 4458
km and the wastewater treatment ratio was 78.9%.

measures to prevent the pollution and control thewater quality of water source
Water quality standard
y “Discharge standard of water pollutant” issued by Beijing
environmental protection Bureau included maximum
concentration discharged of 75 pollutant.
y “Environmental quality standards for surface water” issued
by Ministry of Environmental Protection includes 24 basicitems of surface water environmental quality standard, 5
supplement items and 80 specific items for surface water
source area for centralized living drinking water.
y “Quality standard for ground water” includes classify,
monitoring method, assessment of ground water.

water quality monitoringy “Technical specifications for environmental monitoring ofgroundwater” issued by Ministry of Environmental Protection
includes monitoring net design, monitoring items, analysis methods
and so on.
y In 2008, the number of water quality monitoring site of surface
water is 221, which will monitor 104 river segment, 22 lakes and18 reservoirs. The assessment of water quality will be based on“Environmental quality standards for surface water”.
y In 2008, Beijing government set up 307 monitoring well to assessgroundwater and monitor twice. 181 monitoring well was used forshallow seated groundwater and the rest monitoring well was used
for deep seated groundwater. The assessment of water quality will
be based on “Quality standard for ground water”.

Other measuresy According to the use of water source, the water source
function district was established. For example, the Yongding
river system was be divided to many segments and every
segment will be put a class which would be the evaluation
standard in future.
water body name

Function of water bodyfirst level conservation
zone of surface water
Guangting reservoir
source area for
drinking water
first level conservation
shanxi segment ofzone of surface water
yongding riversource area for
drinking water
Pingyuan segment ofSupply region for
yongding rivergroundwater source

Water quality
ⅡⅡⅢ

y Set up the regulation on drinking water source protection

area pollution prevention and control. With the regulation,the government could set water source protection area andwater quality of protection area. At the same time, theforbidden behavior in the protection area was also defined inthis file.
y The Prevention of water source problem was considered asa major measure. “ecologic restore, ecologic control andecologic conservation” was implemented at the mountainland of reservoir upstream. And the government also
controlled wastewater, solid waste, toilet, environment andriver course at the same time. The ecologic clean small river
was expected to be constructed.

issues of drinking water source
protection
Management mechanism
y The management of water source involved
with department of environment protection,water service, city construction, sanitationand so on. in China. So it lead themanagement problem on water source. Eachdepartment has part power to manage
water source, which made there was not asystematic mechanism.

village pollutiony From the supply water information above,
we could see that the suburb is the key area
to provide drinking water in Beijing. Due tothe mass use of chemical fertilizer andpesticide in the upstream region of watersource protection area and mass dischargeof excrement of animals, the self-restraint
capacity of water source is insufficiency.

Infrastructure constructiony The discharge and collection system ofwastewater and rain water is not perfect.
The surface flow is the major drain modeof village water. The sewage treatment
ratio is low and the wastewater affected
the surface and groundwater source byentering the canals and river course.

Policy and legislationy The supervision and management should bestrengthened by policy and legislation. At
current stage, because lack of powerful
regulation, the illegal phenomena such as
dumping solid waste and discharging waste
water to protection area often appear. Many
wastewater treatment equipments run justfor some time. The major reason is that theillegal cost is lower than treatment cost.

Environmental awarenessy In Beijing, most citizen have has goodenvironmental awareness. But in village,some people still thought that theenvironment has no relation with him. So
they construct toilet near the water sourceand do something to pollute water. We
should improve their awareness throughdifferent activities by government, media andother department.

Thanks for your attention!