The Chinese government has launched its biggest ever water clean-up project of more than 30 billion Chinese yuan (US$ 4.4 billion = € 3.3 billion) over 12 years. It aims to counter the deteriorating water quality affecting millions of Chinese people and their livelihoods. The Water Pollution Control and Management Project, known as ‘Water Special Project’ will focus on the treatment of whole river basins instead of the conventional approach of end-pipe treatment, according to Meng Wei, chief engineer of the project and director of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will coordinate the project. Demonstration projects will be carried out at major rivers across China, such as Haihe, Huaihe, Liaohe and Songhuajiang, as well as Lake Tai and the Three Gorges. Some 64 per cent of the water reaching urban areas is categorized as suitable only for industrial or agricultural purposes and half of cities have suffered groundwater pollution to some degree, Liu Yanhua, vice minister of science and technology said at the launch of the project on 19 February 2009.

Source: Weixiao Chen and Yidong Gong, SciDev, 17 Mar 2009

Tags: east asia & pacific, financing, water and livelihoods, water treatment