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)