Imagethief was overjoyed to read in the Good News China Daily that BOCOG has pledged that athletes and visitors to the 2.91 square km "central Olympic area" surrounding the Bird's Nest will be able to enjoy drinkable water straight from the tap.

Which begs the question, what will the other 15 million people be getting?

But don't panic! The authorities are thinking ahead:

In addition, the department is working to renovate and upgrade its 2,000-plus water supply facilities across the city to provide safe tap water for all Beijing residents.

"There is nothing wrong with the water coming out of the plants," Bi [Xiaogang, vice-director of the Beijing Water Authority] said.

"It is the distance it has to travel through old pipes to get to people's homes that affects the quality."

So the authorities are renovating supply facilities across the city, which are anyway already OK. But it won't matter because the water will still have to come through shitty pipes on its way to you. Comforting.

The article also talks up efforts to restore Beijing's utterly squalid urban waterways:

"By the end of the year all 52 rivers will have been cleaned, so that we can say our rivers have crystal clear water, green banks and can even be used for sailing," Bi said.

Imagethief applauds. Because during a walk along Beijing's canals last summer Imagethief found them to be fetid troughs of used condoms and sanitary napkins. Hardly the thing to inspire the Olympic spirit. Unless, I suppose, they start printing Olympic logos on the city's supply of sanitary napkins and condoms. Smile, baby, this is going to be an Olympic...well, you get the idea.

Honestly, much as I have found Shanghai a pleasant city to live in, it has made me nostalgic for one thing about Beijing: the tap water. When Mrs. Imagethief and I lived in Beijing, we weren't great fans of the tap water. Mrs. Imagethief found it alarmingly hard (insert rude joke of your choice here) and disliked chipping the mineral deposits out of the kettle and our Satan Frog humidifier.

And then we came to Shanghai, where the tap water is distinctly yellow.

That's right, yellow. I thought it was an optical illusion at first, some trick of the lighting in my apartment. Fluorescents, you know. Heaven knows they make me look like crap. But, no, the water is actually yellow. Fill up a white bathtub or pitcher and the color is shocking. Thus alarmed, I won't even use it to water the cats. Mrs. Imagethief even brought a Brita water filter pitcher back from Singapore after the Mayday holiday to supplement our cooler water. Not only does it remove the yellow color, but a before and after taste test demonstrated a distinct improvement, with the "before" water having a clear metallic tang.

But even though we don't drink the stuff I wonder every morning in the shower what might be soaking through my delicate and baby-soft skin. (Anyone wanting further details of what I do in the shower will have to contact me privately. Even I have my limits.)

Of course, given the shaky maintenance at my apartment complex, one might be tempted to think that the color comes from nothing more than a dozen or so dead rats slowly steeping in the water tank like hairy teabags. But unless both my apartments in Shanghai had a dead-rat problem, it's a municipal issue.

If anyone has an explanation, I'd love to hear it. Meanwhile, I think the challenge before the organizers of the Shanghai 2010 expo is clear. If Beijing can sort out its water for the Olympics, you can sort yours out for the expo. I'll be keeping my white pitcher handy to check. Failing that, I'll be up at the water tank with a swimming pool net.