Recycled water systems are being installed across Beijing to get more residents to reuse resources, authorities revealed on Sunday.

According to fresh regulations, all new communities larger than 50,000 square meters and with a daily water consumption rate of more than 150 tons will be required to connect every household to a more sustainable supply. The water will come from one of the capital's five filtering plants or from on-site stations.

The statement by the Beijing Water Authority's conservation management center is part of plans to increase usage of recycled water by 2015 and coincides with National City Water Conservation Week, which ends next Saturday.

Beijing is suffering from its most severe dry spell since 1999, with average rainfall dropping by 20 percent, according to official data. "To ease the situation, we will enhance the promotion of recycling water even further," said water authority director Cheng Jing.

Statistics show consumption of recycled water reached 68,000 cubic meters last year, roughly 20 percent of all water usage.

Officials aim to have all greenbelts near city lakes and rivers using recycled water for irrigation by the end of 2015. Greenery and trees in several parks are already fed reused water, such as at Beixiaohe Park in Chaoyang district. Eight more will be added in the coming years, starting with Bajia Park and Beitucheng Park in Haidian district.

"We have to be very careful promoting the use of recycled water when it comes to ancient trees, though," said He Jianping, deputy director of the conservation management center. "We don't want to risk the lives of precious trees, as they are already fragile. A rational mix of clear and recycled water is more reasonable."

She added that the government will start to offer subsidies and higher water utilization quotas to organizations that use recycled water by the end of this year. About 100 communities already have the use of recycled water, with average costs reduced be almost 80 percent to 1 yuan per ton, say officials.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/16/2011)