BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Miyun Reservoir, Beijing's largest, has supplied over 4 million cubic meters of water to a dried-up river in its downstream over the past two weeks, the publicity department of Miyun District in northern Beijing has said.
The reservoir started to supply water to the Chaohe River as of May 15 and finished on Monday for ecological protection purposes. About 4.88 million cubic meters of water have been transported to the river from the reservoir.
Located in Miyun District, the reservoir is a major drinking water source for Beijing, serving over 11 million people.
With a total storage capacity of 4.375 billion cubic meters, Miyun Reservoir has been at less than its capacity for years due to a drop in the inflow from upstream rivers.
At the beginning of 2015, the reservoir had only 820 million cubic meters of water.
Since water began to be channeled from central China's Hubei Province to the capital in December 2014 via the south-to-north water diversion project, the reservoir's water level has gradually increased.
Meanwhile, these water supply measures have effectively helped restore the ground water resources in the district. In 2018, the buried depth of ground water in the plain area of Miyun is 30.30 meters, 1.86 meters higher than that in 2017, and the ground water level has risen for three consecutive years.
