Groundwater shortage calls for urgent action

China's decision to relocate Beijing's non-capital functions to Xiongan New Area, which is home to Baiyangdian Lake, the largest freshwater body in North China, highlights the acute water shortage Beijing faces. This calls for special attention to the groundwater shortage.

China has 20 percent of the world's population but less than 6 percent of the groundwater. The overstressed North China aquifer serves 11 percent of the country's population, 13 percent of its agricultural production, and 70 percent of its coal production. The measures to solve China's water problems have so far been inadequate. The massive South-North Water Transfer Project has supplied Beijing with 2 billion cubic meters of Yangtze River water a year since 2014, but is not a long-term solution, say some Chinese scientists.

Desalination could be another solution. In coastal areas near Beijing, restrictions on extraction of groundwater for industrial use have been imposed to force desalination into the supply portfolio, but desalinated water has not been incorporated systematically into the municipal water systems. The resultant dependence on and over-extraction of groundwater are having severe impacts on Beijing, including subsidence. Long Di, a researcher at Tsinghua University's Institute of Hydrology and Water Resources, says: "Subsidence is a slow but progressive disaster, and it is irreversible. It can cause cracks in walls, roads, bridges, and underground municipal infrastructure."