Sewage plant pioneers Wuxi's wastewater fight

A sewage plant in Wuxi, Jiangsu province has played an integral role in the city's fight against water pollution for more than a decade.

Located south of the Yangtze River and east of Taihu Lake, Wuxi, to the surprise of many, faces a sever water shortage in terms of the amount of usable water that is available.

It's hard to imagine that the per capita water availability of the city in 2015 only accounted for about one fourth of the national average, a consequence of rapid urbanization at the cost of the environment.

Established in 2004, the Taihu Xincheng Wastewater Treatment Plant now treats about 150,000 tons of wastewater from southern Wuxi every day, benefiting over 180,000 local residents. The capacity is expected to increase to 400,000 tons in a few years' time.

The wastewater mainly comes from households, with some emanating from the manufacturing industry, which is then piped out to the plant to be processed, according to Zhu Yuyu, the treatment plant manager.

"During primary treatment, the sewage passes through several filters which separates the water from solid waste sediment, while secondary treatment sees the remaining liquid pass through a series of biological processes to catch missed organic matter."

The city consumed 474 million tons of water in 2017, about 11 million tons less than the previous year. More than 95 percent of sewage was treated in this way, with 33.5 percent of that then being recycled.

The treated water easily meets the nation's highest standards, added Zhu.

About two thirds of the reclaimed water from the plant is poured into the nearby Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, while the rest is used on landscapes for the watering of roadside greenery and toilet flushing.

Through this, Wuxi has set an example on how sustainable development of cities facing water shortages can move forward in the future, said Zhu.