The water storage of Beijing's Miyun Reservoir hit a 17-year high of 2 billion cubic meters on Nov. 19, compared to 1.2 billion in July 2016, as a result of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the improvement of water protection work.
Miyun Reservoir, Beijing's largest reservoir, is a major drinking water source and the ecological conservation area for Beijing. The water source conservation area covers 75 percent of Miyun District. With a storage capacity of 4.38 billion cubic meters, the maximum of the reservoir surface area is 188 square kilometers.
The reservoir has been below capacity for years due to a drop in the inflow from upstream rivers. At the beginning of 2015, the reservoir had only 820 million cubic meters of water.
Ding Kai, who works at the Beijing South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Commission Office, said that since the launch of the initial stage of the central route of the water diversion project in Dec. 12, 2014, the water plants in the Chinese capital started using the water sent from Hubei Province to replace water from the reservoir, leading to a drop in the reservoir's water outflow of more than 500 million cubic meters every year. On the other hand, the reservoir received about 364 million cubic meters of water from the Beijing-Miyun diversion canal.
In addition, thanks to the rising precipitation in recent years and the efforts in water protection, the reservoir is seeing its water levels increase and surface area expand steadily. Meanwhile, the water quality now meets the Level II national standard year-round, benefiting a population of more than 11 million.
In recent years, the district has closed down over 300 companies, draw out an area of 867 square kilometers prohibiting farming, and set up a 1,200-person water protection team. The district started implementing a "river chief" system this year to better preserve the water quality in its 63 rivers. By the end of this year, fences will be built around the reservoir to make it an enclosed area.