Yellow river tapped to quench Beijing thirst

Beijing will tap the Yellow River to quench its thirst for water this year, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

The city will annually channel 300 million cubic meters of water from the Yellow River for the next four year. The city's two major reservoirs, Miyun and Guanting, now contain 120 million cubic meters of water, which is expected to meet half the demand.

Beijing Water Authority said the capital has seen a lack of rain for 12 consecutive years, and it will continue to exploit its overly-extracted underground water and channel water from nearby provinces to relieve the shortage, before the South-North Water Transfer Project is put into service in 2015.

Cheng Jing, head of Beijing Water Authority said the city will introduce the most stringent water policy this March. Beijing has been conducting the largest ever campaign to save water for the past five years.