2012-07-26     Reminder about Beijing's frailty

“( Beijing ) is one of the driest cities in the world, where the water table sinks a meter every year. The heavens rarely open, and for every drop of rain that does fall, three times as much evaporates from the pale, barren earth.

 
Water is the No I problem facing China at the moment,” said Yu Kongjian, a landscape architect and environmental campaigner. “If things keep going as they are, in about 20 years China will have to move its capital from Beijing because of the lack of clean water — it’s simply that serious.” 

Academic Peter Droege, author of The Renewable City — a Comprehensive Guide to a New Urban Revolution, said; “The situation is dire and about to get much worse. Global warming will have an impact but Beijing ’s ... secret is an over-dependence on coal and nuclear power and antiquated ‘flush-and- forget’ water technology. It’s time for Beijing to adapt or die.”      --HK South China Morning Post, Sept. 23, 2006    

Beijing is on the edge of the world's second largest desert, the Gobi.
Water for Beijing has been an historical problem