(BEIJING, July 18) -- The Beijing municipal government honored its pledge to treat 90 percent of its waste water in 2006, two years ahead of time, according to officials of Beijing's water authority.
In its bid to win the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing promised to treat 90 percent of its waste water before the Olympic Games. By the end of 2006, the city had built a total of 9 sewage disposal plants, laid 4,000 km of sewers and reached a daily treatment capacity of 2.5 million cubic meters, meeting the target of its bid, Wu Jingjun, chief of the Drainage Section of Beijing Water Authority told reporters on Wednesday.
In addition, Beijing had built 4 water recycling plants and laid 350km of distribution pipelines by 2006. The plants were able to supply 960,000 cubic meters of recycled water a day or 46 percent of the treated water, thus improving the water environment in the urban area remarkably.
Starting in 2006, the Qinghe Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) can now supply 80,000 cubic meters of recycled water per day to irrigate landscapes in the Olympic central area.
The facility has upgraded the quality of its water through advanced filtration techniques. Its recycled water is expected to irrigate 2.5 million square meters of grasslands covering the Olympic Forest Park, the Olympic central area and the North Axis Road in 2007, according to Beijing Municipal Drainage Group (BMDG).
Upon the request of BOCOG, BMDG has established a Sewer Poisonous and Hazardous Gas Detection and Alarm System covering all sewers located at the Olympic venues and priority areas in Beijing. The system can detect concentration of sulfide hydrogen in the sewers and regularly send the data to the monitoring center. Some 30 monitoring stations will be made ready by 2008. The group's 300-strong well-trained field crew can make prompt responses in case of emergency.
Aside from irrigation, Beijing's recycled water is also used for the cooling needs of the city's major power plants and for the replenishment of river and lake waters.
