Beijing aims to provide drinkable tap water during the 2008
Olympic Games with the aid of new research, a senior official said
on Wednesday.
"The Beijing health authority will discuss with other
departments how to meet this goal," said Jin Dapeng, director of
the Beijing Health Bureau.
"This is our goal and we will make our best effort to meet it,"
Jin said at a press conference.
He pledged safe and clean water for all visitors and
participants during the Games. Tap water in the city should be
boiled prior to consumption now.
All bottled and boiled water provided by hotels and the Olympic
Village will be subject to strict examination to satisfy health
concerns, he said.
Beijing has established a monitoring system to supervise the
quality of drinking water from the headstream to the tap.
The city will also tighten its food-quality controls at
restaurants to make sure foreigners don't get a bellyache.
Beijing has compiled a list of 45 kinds of public health
accidents that might affect the 2008 Games, Jin said. These include
epidemics, food safety, drinking water and other public health
accidents.
Jin said a set of measures and programs for prevention and
control is being implemented.
During the Games, visitors from areas afflicted by epidemics
such as human avian influenza must be test-cleared to pass through
customs.
In a bid to bolster the city's manners, Beijing will soon launch
a campaign to educate its residents that they should not spit in
public places.
"First, we will work hard to educate the public on the
(potentially) harmful effect of sputum and show them the proper way
to (act)," Jin said.
Fines will be imposed on offenders to help stem the tide, among
other measures.
In the end, the city's hardest target could be persuading its
legion of smokers to refrain from lighting up during the Games.
(China Daily March 16, 2007)