Hangmin village, the richest village in east China's Zhejiang province, invested 60 million yuan (US$7.23 million) of its own money to build a sewage plant.
The new plant is in operation, with daily sewage processing capacity of 60,000 tons.
The per capita annual income of the Hangmin villagers reached 13,500 yuan and the village annual production profit amounted to 100 million yuan last year, making it the most affluent village in the province, according to Zhu Chongqing, secretary of the village Party committee.
However, the village in Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou City made money mainly from printing and dying operations, which once caused serious environmental problems.
Villagers and local officials gradually realized that economic development and environmental protection were equally important. Therefore, the village government decided to construct the sewage plant which handles the polluted water discharged from the print and dye factories.
Moreover, the government also relocated some of these factories, required concrete factories and some small dyeing workshops to close, and installed advanced ecological-friendly equipment in some of the large print and dye factories.
The original small workshops have been torn down and converted into grassland, and the rivers passing through the village has become much cleaner.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2002)
