Northeast China Steps up Pollution Reduction in RiversThe heavy pollution in the Songhua and Liaohe rivers in northeast China is expected to be greatly eased in the next five years as more than a half of the cities in the Songhua-Liaohe river valley build their own sewage treatment plants.City sewage is a major polluting source for the two river systems, and the accelerated urbanization in the area makes it an even more urgent problem. So far, Shenyang, capital of Liaoning, has built such a plant in its northern area, which handles 400,000 tons of sewage daily. Changchun, capital of Jilin, is also building a sewage treatment plant with a daily handling capacity of 390,000 tons. Quite a number of cities in the Songhua-Liaohe river valley have included sewage treatment plants into their urban planning. By the year 2005, more than 80 percent of the medium-size and big cities in the Liaohe river valley will build sewage treatment plants, while more than 50 percent of the medium-size and big cities in the Songhua river valley will have their own sewage treatment plants, according to Liu Shuying, an official in charge of pollution control in the Songhua and Liaohe river systems. Meanwhile, a total of 277 projects for pollution control in the two river systems have been launched involving 201 industrial enterprises, aimed at reducing the discharge of industrial pollutants in the rivers. |
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