Chinanews, Beijing, Nov. 30 – The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau on Monday publicized a monthly report on its website about the water quality of the major lakes, reservoirs, and rivers in Beijing. The report shows that many of the lakes, reservoirs and rivers in the city have already lost all their functions, the Beijing Times reported.

 

Among all the 16 key lakes included in the report, only the Tuancheng Lake and the Rear Lake behind the Beijing Exhibition Hall are graded as “the second level”, or relatively good, where the water quality has met the sanitary standard for drinking water, or can be used as a habitat for rare aquatic species. On the other hand, nearly half of the lakes, including the well-known Fuhai Lake in Yuanmingyuan, the Taoranting Lake, and the Longtan Lake, have been graded as “fifth,” or the worst level.

 

Once a lake is graded as the fifth level, it indicates that the lake has lost all its functions, even for sightseeing purpose, an expert at the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.

 

Due to a severe shortage of water in Beijing, four of the 21 reservoirs included in the report, namely the Zhaitang Reservoir in Mentougou, the Taoyukou Reservoir in Changping, the Niantan Reservoir in Daxing, and the Daning Reservoir in Fengtai, have become dried up. Among the rest of the reservoirs, the water quality of the Guanting Reservoir is graded as the “fifth.”, or the worst level, and the water quality for the other eight reservoirs, including the Miyun and Huairou reservoirs, and the Gucheng Reservoir in Yanqing, which usually serve as the drinking water source for Beijing city dwellers, have all graded as the “second”, or drinkable level.