Gu Jia/Shanghai Daily news

The Caoyanghuanbang in the Putuo District of Shanghai is now a creek with pure water, plants and healthy fish and shrimps. For over 10 years, it was a rank pool full of polluted black water, making its present transformation to a balanced environment hard to believe.  This is one of the achievements from the advanced ideas of ecotype water-control newly introduced into Shanghai.   By the end of this year, the 201 rivers in the urban areas of the city, over 336 kilometers in length, will bid farewell to their black pasts.
The new ideas, involving a series of modern ecotype techniques aim to recover the damaged ecosystem of the river ways, encouraging the water system to purify themselves.  After implementation of these ideas and techniques, the water quality of 40 percent of the 16 main river ways in the city will reach the standards of II, III, or IV.