North China City Cleans up Dirty RivuletsOver 5,000 local residents in Tianjin, a port city 120 km southeast of Beijing, gathered Tuesday to celebrate the completion of a major environmental project to clean up five rivulets.The five brooks, which share a combined name of Qiangzi River, had brought continual suffering to over 200,000 local residents from severe pollution. Between March 10 and September 10, some 110,000 local volunteers comprising of officials and residents joined hands to remove 600,000 cubic meters of mud, to shore up banks with 150,000 cubic meters of stones and to plant trees and grass in an area of 300,000 square meters. The people linked the rivulets and refreshed them with water from Haihe River, a main waterway of the city. In addition, local residents have changed the name of the brooks to Jinhe River. Tianjin is known for its success in upgrading living conditions for local residents. In recent years, the city has rebuilt eight million sq m of old houses and moved one million people into newly-built homes. |
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