Scientists Question Environmental Impact of China’s Winter Olympics Bid

nytimes.com - JIUZHANBAO, China — A few times a year, rains sprinkle the dry mountains north of Beijing, feeding streams that trickle down to catchments like the Yunzhou Reservoir. From its shores, the water shimmers and sparkles, a mirage that local farmers can see but not touch.

“We can’t use it,” said Cheng Lin, a 68-year-old farmer who, like others here, plants corn once a year and hopes for spring rain. “It’s for others, not us.”

Instead, the water is earmarked for the greater Beijing area to the south, and in the winter, increasingly, for making snow.