Beijing looks to meet water consumption goals

Water-scarce Beijing will look to meet its annual water consumption goals in part by using supplies recycled from sewage treatment plants for environmental uses such as cleaning roads and watering municipal gardens and green belts.

The annual water consumption goal for 2016 is 4 billion cubic meters, of which one quarter will come from recycled supplies. Consumption in 2020 is expected to reach 4.3 billion cubic meters, the Beijing Water Authority said on Wednesday.

Beijing has always had lower quotas than the national average on water consumption for both residential and industrial uses. The capital will continue to make the high-efficient use of water a priority and will explore other ways to develop capacity in water recycling.

In 2016, the use of recycled water is expected to reach 1 billion cubic meters, an increase from 950 million cubic meters in 2015. It will continue to increase to 1.2 billion cubic meters by 2020, said Jin Shudong, the head of the water authority.

The recycled water is sourced from a new type of sewage treatment plant that is cleaner and has higher water quality standards. Some industries that consume huge amounts of water, such as carwashes, also are expected to use recycled water.

The water authority said the capital also has made better use of water transferred from the Yangtze River, through the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which has channeled supplies to the capital since December 2014.

The capital plans to use 1.1 billion cubic meters of the diverted water from south in 2016, Jin said.

The use of recycled and diverted water will allow the capital to tap less of the underground water supply, which has been diminishing. The consumption of underground water has been reduced to 2 billion cubic meters annually in recent years, Jin said.