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SCIO press conference on latest progress of 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games preparations and updates on Yanqing and Zhangjiakou competition zones

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CRNTT:

Abundant snowfall is a foundation of the Winter Olympic Games. There have been reports that the snowfall in the host city of Beijing 2022 is relatively less, so successfully hosting the competitions largely depends on artificial snow. However, artificial snow may affect the environment as well as household water. How do you perceive this? How can Beijing 2022 achieve "snowfall freedom" in a scientific and green way? Thank you.

Yu Bo:

Thank you for your attention to the issue of snowfall. The National Alpine Ski Center began producing artificial snow on Nov. 15 and is estimated to complete snowmaking by the middle of next January. The Yanqing competition zone has adhered to the principles of storing water in multiple ways, recycling water, and conserving water with the aid of technology in a bid to meet the snowmaking water demands for the Games and avoid negative impacts on regional water safety and the ecological environment at the same time. Let me go into more details.

First, there are multiple ways of storing water. The National Alpine Ski Center preferred natural precipitation and overland runoff as its first choice of water resources for artificial snow production. Yanqing district boasts ample precipitation, and this year particularly, the accumulated amount of precipitation has reached 739.9 millimeters, which represents an increase of 231.6 millimeters compared to average annual amount over the past five years. Noticeably, the Yanqing competition zone had a snowfall of 19.5 millimeters, which was very heavy, on November 6 when Beijing welcomed its first snow this winter. Additionally, three reservoirs with a combined water-holding capacity of roughly 180,000 cubic meters have been built in the Yanqing competition zone to store surface water as much as possible for snowmaking and green conservation purposes. In addition to natural precipitation, the extra water required for snowmaking will be provided by Foyukou Reservoir and Baihepu Reservoir. According to our statistics, the amount of water required for the Games only accounts for 1.6 percent and 0.4 percent of the current water consumption of Yanqing district and its total amount of water resources respectively. Storing water in multiple ways has fully ensured the water needs of the National Alpine Ski Center for snowmaking.

Second, we adhere to the recycling use of water. The entire Yanqing competition zone has water-conservation measures in place which cover construction planning, engineering management and daily use. On the one hand, we designed measures for snowmelt to flow to a small reservoir through channels in the competition zone to be used for snowmaking during the next snow season and for daily green conservation. An internal recycling of snowmaking water is thus formed to conserve and protect water resources as much as possible. On the other hand, a sewage treatment station has been built in the competition zone as part of the municipal facilities for the Games. The reclaimed water will be used for road watering, greening, irrigation, toilet flushing and so on. These water recycling measures have significantly boosted the efficiency of water resource utilization.

Third, we adhere to technology-driven water conservation. The National Alpine Ski Center boasts the world's most advanced water-efficient snowmaking facilities and intelligent snowmaking system. Through real-time monitoring of the meteorological conditions, we are able to start the snowmakers under the most suitable conditions. Additionally, we can dynamically maintain the most ideal snowmaking efficiency in line with the external environment, so as to avoid any water resource waste. Thank you.