Shanghai Daily News

Fengxian District government is currently undertaking a three-year plan to establish a qualified and comprehensive water supply and treatment infrastructure within the district.

After earlier setting a 2007 deadline for its completion, the Fengxian Water Authority recently announced that the project will be finished four months earlier than expected.

Fengxian Water Authority Director Jin Xing said the district was undertaking the plan with the hope of bringing clean water to residents once again.

"In the last few years, the poor quality of drinking water has been a source of constant complaints among local residents," he said.

"The district is currently capable of supplying 380,000 cubic meters of tap water each day, which is sufficient for local residents. However, the government's thinking is that it has to largely improve the water quality for the sake of residents' health."

The poor quality of the source water has always been the main problem. Although it is located near the East China Sea, Shanghai has limited water resources. Of the city's surface area that has water, only 20 percent is usable.

In Fengxian, the district has 18 rivers, 14 of which are used as sea routes. The concentration of nitrogen ammonia, dissolved oxygen and permanganate in the other four rivers is almost the same as it was 20 years ago.

This means that the district's river only meet class 4 or class 5 standards for drinking water.

At present, only water drawn from the Yangtze and Huangpu rivers meet the class 2 standard considered suitable for drinking water.

From this year on, all residential drinking water will be drawn from the Huangpu, meaning that the district has to build more pump infrastructure to meet demand, said Jin.

"The district government will allocate 5 billion yuan (US$625 million) within three years for water source protection and waste water treatment," he said.

He pointed out that the district is using the money to protect the water source for residential use in the upper reaches of the Huangpu River that runs through the city.

Steps taken by the district to achieve its target include establishing two sewage plants which are capable of treating 150,000 tons of polluted water daily, the establishment of two water factories to enhance the water supply and to replace outdated water supply pipes.

In terms of controlling pollution from factories, Jin considered it a priority for Fengxian.

"More than 18 million cubic meters of livestock farms as well as industrial factories in the district will be closed by the end of this year," he said. "This will protect the city's primary water source from chemical and organic run-off."

Due to the continuous efforts of last year, 40 percent of farms and factories have already been closed.

The district also plans to improve processing techniques at its water plants and replace its outdated water supply pipes measuring more than 700 kilometers long.

Jin said the district was determined to see the quality of drinking water in Fengxian will meet European Union standards by 2010 in the newly-built residential areas.