Independent experts like Ms Grainne Ryder, policy director of Canadian research group Probe International, agree that the Olympics are not the root, nor are they the only cause, of the water crisis. But the policies being put in place to ensure a successful Games may make the problem worse. 'The (water) crisis does not begin or end with the 2008 Olympics,' said Ms Ryder. 'But the Olympics have accelerated greater supply expansions that are unsustainable and costly, and will drive greater profligate consumption.'

Such broad concerns are lost on villagers living near the Wankuai, Xidayang and Gangnan reservoirs, though their lives have already been reshaped by this growing competition for water resources in northern China. Some of the most dramatic changes have taken place in Zhengjiazhuang, where 80 per cent of the villagers used to make a lucrative living from their fish farms in the Wangkuai Reservoir.

Back then, it was not uncommon for their annual income to reach 20,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan (S$4,000 to S$6,000), said Mr Guo Xiachi, adding that the successful ones made several times more.

But as sources of water became increasingly important, the Hebei authorities outlawed fish farming - which fouled up the waters - in order to mount a massive upgrade and cleanup at reservoirs at Wangkuai. More restrictions came into place after September 2006, when it was announced that Wangkuai and the three other major reservoirs in Hebei would be tasked with the mission of supplying water for the Beijing Olympics.

Tourist activities at the four reservoirs were also halted on fears that trash and motorised boats would pollute the water. 'Now, you won't even be allowed to swim or wash your clothes in the reservoir,' said Mr Ren Lixin, a security guard at the environmental monitoring station at Gangnan Reservoir, the largest in Hebei.

These restrictions cut off another potential source of income for villagers living nearby, who make additional income from selling drinks and ferrying tourists on motorised boats. These new regulations forced 90 per cent of Zheng-jiazhuang's population to leave home to work in nearby cities like Baoding, Shijiazhuang and Beijing. Those reluctant to leave their land said they either pooled money to dig their own wells, or left the fate of their crops to the whims of the weather.

Mr Guo, who still tends to a fish nursery and a small vegetable plot in the village, said his annual income has fallen by as much as four times to about 5,000 yuan a year. With even tighter restrictions on the use of water due to the Olympics, he and his fellow villagers expect to earn even less this year.

But when asked if he felt it unfair that Hebei was sending much-needed water to Beijing for the Games, he merely shrugged his shoulder said: 'What fairness is there to speak of? This is just the way this society is. No one asked for our opinion, nor have we received any compensation.' But Mr Guo, like the other Hebei villagers interviewed for this story, volunteered no criticism of the Olympics.

To a man, they likened the Games to a 'major national affair', or guojia dashi. In other words, the Olympics were not to be questioned. [Published in The Straits Times July 26 2008]

**Post-script: Weeks before the Olympics, officials denied that there was ever such a plan to divert water from Hebei to help Beijing, and that the capital city had enough water to host the Olympics. In September, however, the official Xinhua news agency announced that Hebei will transfer 1.3 million tonnes of water to Beijing over six months. The reason, Xinhua added, was that Beijing had been suffering from nine consecutive years of drought since 1999, with the water shortage due to hit "crisis point" in 2010.