Bi Xiaogang, vice director of Beijing Water Authority, said Beijing has made great progress in recent years to improve its water quality and great importance has been given to sewage treatment. Nine of the 14 planned large-scale sewage treatment plants have been built and five more are under construction. Also more than 300 wastewater treatment plants have been built at the upper reaches of Beijing’s 52 waterways totalling 540 km.
However the Associated Press reports that Bi said Wednesday if you’re in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Games, avoid drinking tap water unless you’re living in the Olympic Village. He acknowledged the billions spent to clean and modernize Beijing haven’t been enough to provide potable tap water. He said the quality of the water provided by the water plan is safe enough, but the water is contaminated during the secondary supply process, in the transfer of water, so its not safe to drink from the tap. “We are still working on upgrading the secondary facilities. But in the Olympic Village we will provide safe drinking water from the tap”.
Because of the rising number of vehicles and construction sites, city officials say Beijing is facing a mounting challenge to improve air quality for next year’s Games. Chen Tian, chief engineer at the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau said Beijing’s government hopes to have 245 “clean air days” or 67 per cent, in 2008. “We’re really facing tougher challenges meeting the clean air quality target given the rising number of vehicles, construction sites and population. We’re trying our best to change for the better”. The city is spending $13 billion cleaning up pollution amide a surge in car ownership and construction.
Zhan Yanyou, member of the Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said Wednesday Beijing’s municipal government is trying to accelerate steps for a recycling economy while paying attention to resource-saving and environmental protection. He said that the city will meet the state mandatory target of five per cent in the reduction of energy and water consumption, a three per cent decline in chemical oxygen demand, and 10 percent drop in sulphur dioxide emissions.
Beijing has set its own targets for the year – the number of good air quality days in the urban area is to reach 67 per cent, sewage treatment to reach 92 per cent for the eight districts, use of recycling water to reach 50 per cent, garbage disposal to reach 97 per cent and 47.2 percent for urban afforestation.
Beijing 2008 has compiled and officially published Tuesday the “Service Guide for Foreign Media Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period”.
The guide covers visa applications, customs clearance, travel and interviews, employment of Chinese mainland citizens, rental of housing and offices, applications for radio frequency occupation, acquisition of a temporary driving permit, and taxation and insurance with which accredited media organizations for the Beijing Games, including rights-holding broadcasters, accredited written and photographic press, as well as non-accredited media, are generally concerned about.
The guide includes an all-round 24-hour service mechanism provided by the Beijing Olympic Media Center which coordinates different departments of the Chinese Government to grant permits and deliver services to all the media organizations and help them solve any problems.
An electronic version of the guide has now been published on the official Beijing 2008 website to be followed soon by a printed version which will be distributed to the media.
