Nation's water lacks treatment options (2)
Nation's water lacks treatment options (2)
14:53, December 16, 2009 
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The discharge of untreated water has noticeably damaged the water quality of the country's rivers and lakes, including the Yangtse River.
A report released in October by the Yangtse Water Conservancy Commission showed that the pollution in some parts of the river hadn't been efficiently contained, and the polluted portion of the river stretched 655 kilometers along 21 cities, mainly due to wastewater discharge from those cities.
Lu Jianjian, with the School of Resources and Environmental Sciences at East China Normal University, had warned in 2005 that the Yangtse River would turn into another Yellow River, which is already seriously polluted, in 10 years if no efficient measures were taken
"The economic growth in China has come at a heavy cost, paid in severe contamination of the country's air, soil and water," The New York Times commented on October 27.
Ma noted that some enterprises pipe their industrial wastewater into facilities for household wastewater for further processing after initial treatment. But due to poor management, some of the sewage-treatment plants fail to effectively treat the wastewater before discharging it.
"Despite a rise in the total amount of wastewater that is being treated in the country, water quality in some major rivers and lakes cannot stop deteriorating," Ma said.
To curb the worsening problem, Wu Xiaoqing, vice minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said November 30 that the government will invest 90 billion yuan in the next two or three years to build more sewage-treatment systems.
A public hearing on water rate hikes for residential use will be held today in Beijing, according to the Legal Mirror. According to a plan announced by the Municipal Development and Reform Commission earlier this month, the expected increase is 0.9 yuan per cubic meter, and 0.42 yuan of that is attributed to the wastewater-treatment fee.
Beijing's residential wastewater-treatment fee is currently 0.9 per cubic meter, but the cost is 1.7 yuan per cubic meter. So, the balance is covered by the municipal government, the commission said.
Source: Global Times
【1】 【2】
A report released in October by the Yangtse Water Conservancy Commission showed that the pollution in some parts of the river hadn't been efficiently contained, and the polluted portion of the river stretched 655 kilometers along 21 cities, mainly due to wastewater discharge from those cities.
Lu Jianjian, with the School of Resources and Environmental Sciences at East China Normal University, had warned in 2005 that the Yangtse River would turn into another Yellow River, which is already seriously polluted, in 10 years if no efficient measures were taken
"The economic growth in China has come at a heavy cost, paid in severe contamination of the country's air, soil and water," The New York Times commented on October 27.
Ma noted that some enterprises pipe their industrial wastewater into facilities for household wastewater for further processing after initial treatment. But due to poor management, some of the sewage-treatment plants fail to effectively treat the wastewater before discharging it.
"Despite a rise in the total amount of wastewater that is being treated in the country, water quality in some major rivers and lakes cannot stop deteriorating," Ma said.
To curb the worsening problem, Wu Xiaoqing, vice minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said November 30 that the government will invest 90 billion yuan in the next two or three years to build more sewage-treatment systems.
A public hearing on water rate hikes for residential use will be held today in Beijing, according to the Legal Mirror. According to a plan announced by the Municipal Development and Reform Commission earlier this month, the expected increase is 0.9 yuan per cubic meter, and 0.42 yuan of that is attributed to the wastewater-treatment fee.
Beijing's residential wastewater-treatment fee is currently 0.9 per cubic meter, but the cost is 1.7 yuan per cubic meter. So, the balance is covered by the municipal government, the commission said.
Source: Global Times
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