Beijing will adopt tough water management measures in the next five years to ease acute water shortages, according to local water authorities.

The measures include setting warning lines for the quantity of water consumption, efficiency of water use and water pollution levels within the metropolitan area, Bi Xiaogang, spokesman with the Beijing Water Authority, was quoted as saying by Monday's Beijing Daily.

Local governments would be punished if they missed the targets, he said, adding it was the first time that such measures had been formulated.

The measures, which were still being drafted by the municipal government, will be implemented during the first half of 2011, Bi was quoted as saying.

Beijing has been plagued by drought for 12 years in a row, during which its per capita amount of water resources has been nearly halved to about 150 cubic meters.

With nearly 20 million residents and more than 4.7 million vehicles, the metropolis has a water resource deficit of 400 million cubic meters, although it transferred 320 million cubic meters of water from neighboring Hebei Province last year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2011)