From AFP:
China has begun diverting water from the Yellow River towards Beijing for the second time this year as part of a major effort to supply the capital ahead of the Olympics, state press said Thursday.
The diversion of up to 156 million cubic metres (41 billion gallons) of water from the already parched Yellow River to Lake Baiyangdian near Beijing began on March 1 and would continue for 20 days, the China News Service reported.
A nearly equal amount of water had already been diverted along a 399-kilometre (250-mile) canal between the river and the lake in late January and early February, it said.