Shenzhen will revitalize the inferior bodies of water that are below Grade-V quality by 2021 and improve the city’s ecological water environment to an advanced world level by 2025.
According to a report by the government outlining the goal for the coming five years, the city will continue and expand eight water purification projects in 2021, increasing the water treatment capacity by 440,000 tons per day. By 2025, the water treatment capacity of the city will reach 8.53 million tons a day, reaching a leading level of the country.
The city’s water treatment focus will shift from prevention + treatment to treatment + ecological restoration. By 2025, the city will complete construction of 1,000 kilometers of ecological pathways along rivers, the coast, lakes and reservoirs.
The quality of surface water in rivers, lakes and reservoirs in China is classified into five grades by utilization purposes and protection objectives.
The first four grades of water (Grade I to IV) refer to water at sources and national nature reserves, protected areas for centralized sources of drinking water, protected areas for the common fishing and swimming areas, and for industrial uses and entertainment, which does not come in direct contact with human bodies.
Grade-V water refers to water for agricultural use and landscaping requirements.
In 2018, Shenzhen implemented a three-year action plan and has invested 116.3 billion yuan (US$16.86 billion) in water treatment, adding 3,387 kilometers of sewage pipelines and upgrading 2,262 kilometers of the pipeline network. The water treatment capacity has increased by 2.52 million tons a day.
The city has eliminated 159 blackened and polluted bodies of water across the city, and deodorized 1,467 smaller bodies of water. The city’s major rivers have all achieved a standard of quality.
For example, in the treatment of Maozhou River, the border river with Dongguan which had once been listed as the worst polluted river in Guangdong Province, the city set up four estuary management centers to establish responsibilities in water treatment, qualify and quantify operation goals of sewage facilities, pipelines and pumping stations. It established a long-term treatment mechanism by classifying water-related pollutants into 13 categories. The end result was regulation of the waste discharging standards and behaviors.