Charge pool owners more, NGO says

Beijing can save at least 190 million cu m water per year - double the capacity of Guanting Reservoir - if the extravagant lifestyle of its residents can be controlled, a leading NGO said after the water price hearing yesterday.

Wang Jian, the leader of the research team at Green SOS, who has studied the water use in Beijing since the 1970s, said that the 190 million cu m water is very important due to the acute shortage of water in Beijing.

A one-year study by Green SOS, a Beijing based NGO, founded in 1996 and which has about 10,000 volunteers, shows that the current water reserves in Beijing can only support about half of its residents, and not the 17.14 million people who currently live in the city.