Three Gorges Area to Handle Pollutant TreatmentChongqing Municipality in southwest China has made a three-year plan to construct ten sewage treatment plants and eleven garbage-handling plants in the Three Gorges Area.By 2003, all counties in the area will have pollutant treatment facilities, said a local environment official. The area discharged an annual 1.33 billion tons of sewage water and 520,000 tons of garbage. At present, only 66 percent of industrial wastewater and 6.8 percent of urban sewage were treated before being discharged into the Yangtze River, China's longest. Upon completion in 2003, the water quality of the Three Gorges reservoir should reach the second-level standard regulated by the state environment department. But now only 5.9 percent of water in the area reaches the standard. The plants will cut down on the pollutants put into the reservoir and improve water quality by handling 380,000 tons of sewage water and 2,300 tons of garbage daily, the official said. |
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