BEIJING, Nov. 20 -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a facility agreement with China's wastewater treatment industry leader Sound Global Ltd. worth 300 million U.S. dollars to improve rural wastewater management in China.

The loans will be used for innovative technologies to help treat 240,000 tonnes of wastewater per day in 100 Chinese townships by 2017, according to the agreement signed Thursday.

An ADB survey shows that the enormous volume of wastewater generated by China's rural areas poses a major environmental threat to rivers, lakes and underground aquifers.

Outside of major Chinese cities, wastewater treatment facilities and sewage pipelines are scarce, with less than 20 percent of wastewater generated by rural areas getting properly treated, said the ADB.

"By building and operating wastewater treatment plants with small modular automatic rapid technologies, smart solutions can be provided for small communities in rural areas which currently do not have wastewater treatment infrastructure," said Hisaka Kimura, Head of Private Sector Infrastructure Finance at ADB's East Asia Unit.