Challenges and Solutions of Urban Hydrology in Beijing

Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, the city of Beijing as the capital of China has been going through a rapid urbanization. Water as the public, fundamental and strategic resources for the social and economic development as well as the survival basis of human and surroundings, is constrained to the urbanization of Beijing. In order to solve the hydrological challenges by urbanization, as the municipal water information service, Beijing Hydrological Center (BHC) is currently focusing on the safe water supply based on the mega-city hydrological development concept and making efforts to deal with new hydrological problems caused by the rapid urbanization. After years of study on theories and practices, the solutions to intense water scarcity, such as new well fields development, South-North water diversion, water resource and quality monitoring networks improvement, reclaimed water usage and so on, have provided strong support for Beijing turning into an international city. In this paper, the current water problems of Beijing are described in details on water shortage, water quality deterioration, drinking water safety and problems concerning water drainage system and flood control. The experiences of hydrometric, water quality and groundwater monitoring networks are provided as measures for water resources management. Additionally, the previous and current research work which provides technical and scientific support for decision-making of water resources management in Beijing is discussed in this paper.