Scientists propose building 160km pipe to funnel polluted Bohai drinking water to Beijing

A Beijing government think tank has made two ambitious proposals to tackle the capital's water shortage and air pollution, one involving the construction of a huge canal to Tianjin and the other creating a massive artificial fresh air intake in the municipality's northwest.

But some scientists are not impressed, suggesting that the plans would be next to useless in easing environmental pressures.

The Beijing Academy of Social Sciences (BASS) outlined the plans in two reports released this week. The first proposed building a canal - a kilometre wide and 160km long - from Tianjin to the capital to carry desalinated, treated potable water sourced from the polluted Bohai Gulf.

The canal could also ease smog by allowing dry land along its banks to be irrigated to stop fine dust particles wafting into the capital, BASS said.

Beijing would have to desalinate seawater from the Bohai Gulf to ease the city's water shortage as its groundwater ran out, said Shi Changkui , the report's lead author.

The other report suggested building two townships in the northwestern suburbs of Nankou and Machikou to provide a wind portal to central Beijing.