Beijing's notoriously smog-choked environs are soon to be gifted an oasis of respite, courtesy of the Olympic Games. The largest public green space in the country, a 680-hectare Olympic Forest Park will soon open its oxygen-laden doors to the public. The park is being billed by the authorities as a green lung for what is one of the world's most polluted cities. Built at the cost of 7.7 billion yuan ($1.12b) over a three-year period, the Forest Park is located at the northern end of the south-north axis around which the Olympic village is constructed. Stunning views of the iconic iron mesh-wrought Bird's Nest stadium are to be had from atop a hill at the park's centre. Five hundred thousand plants representing 180 different types of flora dot the space. But the most striking feature of this urban forest is a 27-hectare, man-made lake. This is also the feature that has proved to be the most controversial, leading to a fierce debate over the wisdom, or lack thereof, in constructing such a massive, ornamental lake in a city that is on the verge of a water crisis. Having suffered eight straight years of drought, Beijing's natural water supplies are severely depleted; a crisis that is exacerbated by pollution. Already struggling to meet the needs of its 17 million inhabitants the Olympics will likely place an even greater burden on the city's water supplies. An extra 1.5 million visitors are expected during the games and water use could surge by up to 30 per cent according to some estimates. The situation will likely be aggravated by the fact that in a bid to show its best face to the world the municipal government has built a number of water-guzzling musical fountains and created lush green lawns to line the main boulevards of the capital city. Forty million potted plants are also being placed all over Beijing as part of an Olympics-related beautification project. To ensure enough potable water for the games' period Beijing is tapping 800 billion gallons of back-up supply from four reservoirs in neighbouring Hebei province. As a result, although Hebei is one of the least water-abundant provinces in China, peasants there find themselves helpless as precious water for their crops is diverted to serve the capital's explosive developmental needs. Pipelines to pump water from further south (part of the country's ambitious 500 billion yuan, North-South water diversion project which seeks to channel water up from the Yangtze River in the south to the parched north) are also being put in place. At a recent press conference deputy director of the Beijing Water Authority Bi Xiaogang insisted that even during the Olympics, water would only be diverted from other parts of the country in an emergency. While admitting that the capital's reliance on shrinking groundwater reserves was not ideal