China Matters documents the Revival of 3500-year-old Springs in Jinan
BEIJING, July 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In Jinan, capital of northeastern China's Shandong province, hundreds of springs gurgle in the city. Springs here are not only a tourist attraction, but also a source of daily drinking water for the locals.
Early mornings see hundreds of local residents, most elderly, park their grocery trolleys packed with water bottles at Heihu Spring area as they get ready to fill them to the top before taking them back home. The spring water is sweet and widely used by locals for cooking and brewing tea. There is a strong connection between the people and springs here.
With more than 3,500 years of recorded history, springs are big part of Jinan's urban make-up today. It is freely available and seems almost limitless. But in actual fact, spring water has tended to dry up from time to time since the 1970s. And as recently as 2000, it dried up for 926 consecutive days. However, urban development and population growth resulted in more demand for water. People were using 800,000 cubic meters of water per day at most.
In response to this, protection measures were brought in by the government. These included closing off more than 400 private wells, whilst increasing artificial precipitation and creating more water sources for the springs from the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and many others. Since 2003, Jinan's springs have not experienced any drought.
In this video, British host Josh goes to taste the spring water to find out what makes it special. But he also talks with a spring protection expert on the source of the spring water and the measures taken to protect the springs. The video was filmed and produced by China Matters.
Contact: Li Siwei
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