Shenzhen will spend a record 2 billion yuan (US$242 million) this year on 67 projects to tackle water pollution.

Vice Mayor Lu Ruifeng vowed Tuesday to have Futian, Xinzhou and Dasha rivers cleaned up this year at a meeting of the city's headquarters for fighting water pollution.

The three heavily polluted rivers, which had long been in the center of complaints, should no longer be black and smelly after this year's efforts, Lu said.

Work will be done on rivers, reservoirs and artificial wetlands. Construction will be enhanced on sewage discharge networks, sewage treatment plants, sewage recycling facilities and garbage disposal systems.

About half of the money will be spent in Bao'an and Longgang districts.

More than 10 projects will be launched to control pollution sources near Shenzhen, Xili, Tiegang and Shiyan reservoirs.

Eight projects will cover the coastal area in east Shenzhen, involving Yantian and Longgang districts.

The municipal water resources bureau had announced a detailed schedule to flush the Futian, Xinzhou rivers in Futian District and Dasha in Nanshan District with recycled water. Sewage collected from the three rivers will be treated and then discharged into the three waterways. New sluices and sewage conduit networks will be built. According to the schedule, the three rivers are expected to be transformed into scenic areas before 2010.

The water resources bureau said there were 249 sources discharging 40,000 tons of filthy pollutants into the Futian River each day while 60,000 tons was going into the Xinzhou River.

The situation in the Dasha River was even worse with 80,000 tons of filth being discharged daily from 533 sources.

With little fresh water flowing in, the three rivers are almost stagnant with each containing at least 50,000 cubic meters of silt. A cleanup is also scheduled for the Buji, Maozhou and Guanlan rivers in Bao'an and Longgang and the Pingshan River in Longgang. Enditem 

(Shenzhen Daily January 6, 2005)