BEIJING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- By the end of October, the average depth of underground water in Beijing's plain areas stood at 22.78 meters, said the Beijing Water Authority (BWA).
The figure is 2.88 meters higher than the average depth of underground water before the south-to-north water diversion project began bringing water to Beijing in 2015. The underground water reserves increased by a total of 1.48 billion cubic meters as a result of the rise.
Beijing has received over 5.2 billion cubic meters of water diverted from the Danjiangkou reservoir in central China's Hubei Province in the past five years. About 70 percent of the diverted water has been supplied for waterworks, and the remaining water has been used to store river water in large- and medium-sized reservoirs in Beijing and to replenish groundwater and water in urban rivers and lakes.
In 2015, the underground water level in Beijing's plain areas began to rise slowly. It has risen significantly since 2018, said Wang Junwen, deputy director of the Beijing water resources control center of the BWA.
Beijing is also gradually reducing the exploitation of underground water, which has boosted the recovery of the capital's underground water reserves, according to Wang.
