The Beijing municipal government said on Tuesday that it successfully implemented a regional compensation mechanism for water preservation last year.

The mechanism follows the principle of "polluters pay for pollution". If the water quality of a river falls by one grade－China has five grades of surface water quality－the district or administrative area upstream has to pay a compensation of 300,000 yuan ($45,000) a month to the one downstream for every monitoring section. Beijing has 83 water-preservation monitoring sections covering almost all the rivers in the city.

Last year, district governments in Beijing paid 970 million yuan in such compensation. In the first eight months of this year, the amount had reached 560 million yuan.

According to Beijing water supply bureau, the mechanism is aimed at raising the water preservation awareness of local governments, which is very important for a water-starved city like Beijing. And the money they receive as compensation will help local authorities to improve water preservation in their areas.

The bureau said Fengtai district paid 158 million yuan as compensation, Chaoyang district 109 million yuan, and Shunyi district 106 million－the top three compensators last year among Beijing's 16 districts and two counties.