The Chinese government has embarked on an emergency water diversion project that will divert water to Beijing from neighboring Hebei Province before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

 

"When it is completed, the project will divert 400 million cubic meters of water from four reservoirs in Hebei to Beijing," Zhang Jiyao, an official with the State Council committee in charge of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, said on Thursday.

 

"It's a matter of great urgency to speed up the construction of the project to ensure the security of water supply during the Olympic Games," he said.

 

The water supply situation in Beijing is very grave as the drought afflicting the capital is now in its seventh year, he added.

 

Water from Hebei shall run from Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei some 300 kilometers to the southwest of Beijing, to Tuancheng Lake in downtown Beijing.

 

The project is being carried out as part of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project that aims to divert water from the water-rich south to the arid north.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2006)