Clean water for Beijingers...

CHINA WATCH : Three things I hate about Beijing: traffic, rent and water. If you have lived here for a while, you will agree with me. The tap water in Beijing is not drinkable, of course; even after it is boiled, you can see a layer of dust on its surface, and taste an “interesting” flavor of it if you are brave enough.

Maybe I am being fussy, and millions of Beijingers drink this water and live just fine. But I am really worried about the water for the Olympics. In 2008, a great number of foreigners will come and I am not sure if their stomach is as strong as mine.

So here comes a piece of good news: the recycled water supplied to the Olympic Village will go through one of the most stringent procedures in the world, Beijing’s drainage experts said yesterday, according to China Daily.

“The water reclamation system we use is more advanced than those used in previous Games,” Wang Hongchen, chief engineer of the Qinghe Water Reclamation Plant, said.

The plant will supply 60,000 tons of recycled water per day for the lake in the Olympic Park.

By the end of the year, a second water treatment plant will open to provide additional supplies to the Olympic Village, which according to officials, will be as clean as tap water.”

I have a kind of complicated feeling when reading this new, it seems we would not have cleaner water if Olympics were not happening.