Shanghai decided to restore the original ecosystem systematically over time. With a stress on management and reduction of waste, the sewage that once flowed into the creek and river is now collected in pipes and processed at a wastewater treatment plant.
Shu Shiqing, Vice Director of Shanghai’s Water Authority says, “By the end of 2010 the goal was to treat 80% of the water.”
In Shanghai, there has been urban renewal along the river and creek with extensive green space added, and a new museum educates the people about environmental awareness.
With water quality improved and the stink gone, residents now enjoy the river. During summer, people come out in the mornings to exercise in the parks along the creek.
By the end of 2010, plants, fish and other living organisms would be living in the creek.
China has made great economic strides in recent decades but progress has been uneven. The gap between urban and rural areas has increased. Rural poverty is worse in the Western provinces such as Gansu.
According to a Chinese government study, probably 300 million people in China do not have access to safe drinking water. Most are in rural China.
Plans are now focused on solving that problem.
Kang Guo Xi, Deputy Director of the Gansu Water Resources Bureau says, “The Yellow River is the main source of water for Gansu.”
To increase agricultural production, water is pumped from the Yellow River as high as 600 meters and carried in aqueducts to field and village long distances from the river.
At higher elevations in Gansu, the challenge was more difficult but not impossible.
Return to China’s Water Challenge – Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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