Guanting Reservoir (), also known as Guanting Shuiku, is the first large-scale

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

after the founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Guanting Reservoir is located at the junction of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

Hebei Province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

, mostly in

Huailai County Huailai () is a county in northwestern Hebei province, China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhangjiakou. Huailai County is a center for grape wine production, with the China Great Wall Wine Company, Ltd. headquartered ...

, Hebei Province, and a small part in Yanqing County, Beijing. The reservoir is named after the dam built near the Guanting Town (官厅镇).

History

Guanting Reservoir started construction in October 1951 and was completed on 13 May 1954, with the main flow of water being the

Yongding River The Yongding River () is a river in northern China. It is one of the main tributaries in the Hai River system and is the largest river to flow through Beijing. In recent years, the Beijing segment of the river has dried up due to environmental ...

in Huailai. The reservoir covers an area of 230 square kilometers and has a total storage capacity of 2.2 billion

cubic meter The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

s. Guanting Reservoir was a major source of

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

for Beijing and neighboring regions. Due to

water contamination Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. W ...

, the reservoir was withdrawn from the system to supply Beijing with

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

in 1997, but after thorough treatment, the reservoir has been an alternate water source since 2007.

References

Reservoirs in China 1954 establishments in China Buildings and structures in Beijing Buildings and structures in Hebei Geography of Zhangjiakou {{China-lake-stub