Water Policy 7 (2005) 345-357

Sustainable use of water resources in agriculture in Beijing: problems and countermeasures

Yan Wang and Hongrui Wang

School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China, ; Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, 100037, Beijing, China

Corresponding author. Key Laboratory for Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, 100875, Beijing, China, Fax: +86-10 - 58809289, Henryzsr@bnu.edu.cn

Beijing, the capital of China, is one of the most water-scarce metropolises in the world. The present water policies are leading to serious water scarcity in agriculture. The proportion of agricultural water to total water has been dropping continuously in Beijing in past years. The influence of water scarcity on grain yield and planting production value has been analyzed in this paper. The problems of ecological environment and rural social problems that arise from water scarcity are also discussed in the paper. Based on the above analysis, the paper gives some suggestions for alleviating the tension, such as developing water-saving agriculture, adjusting planting structure and properly developing sewage irrigation.

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