- 14 February 2007 -

China's sewage creates opportunities

Water pollution is becoming more and more serious in China, creating opportunities for wastewater specialists in that country, a report by Dublin, EIRE-based Research and Markets suggests. Up to now, the investment percentage of foreign capital is still less than 10%.

The large amount of living and industrial sewage produced by the increasingly expanding cities and towns is one of the main causes, the report says. Data from the Ministry of Construction indicates that, among China 's over 600 organic cities, 278 cities do not have sewage treatment plants, and at least more than 50 plants in 30 cities operate at a load rate of less than 30% or simply without any operations. In the past ten years, sewage treatment plants nationally have increased by 5.6 times, the total sewage treatment capacity has increased by 8 times; yet, the total treated sewage only has grown by 2.7 times. The problem is that there is no matching collecting system. Statistics shows that the sewage treatment rate of China is currently about 50%, and the operating load rate of sewage treatment plants is estimated to be less than 50%.

The report, China Sewage Treatment Industry Report, 2006 goes on to suggest that China's urbanization will be faster than ever during "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period (2006-2010), leading to greater pressure on sewage treatment. According to the requirement of the plan, newly added investment in sewage treatment should reach RMB 330 billion or more within the year of 2006-1010.