6位国内领军水污染控制专家recently launched the initiative to establish China's first conceptual sewage treatment plant. Currently, there are over 3,800 urban sewage treatment plants in China, with a total processing capacity comparable to that of the United States; however, it is plagued by issues such as high energy consumption and large amounts of sludge produced during the process. Furthermore, the treated water quality often fails to meet environmental standards.
At the beginning of this year, six renowned experts in the field of water pollution control - Qu Jiuhui, Wang Kaijun, Wang Hongchen, Yu Gang, Ke Bing and Yu Hanqing - jointly established the "Expert Committee on Conceptual Sewage Treatment Plants for Chinese Cities." The committee plans to apply cutting-edge global concepts and advanced technologies over a period of five years or so to build and operate one to three conceptual sewage treatment plants.
As expressed by Qu Jiuhui, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Ecological Environment Research Center under CAS,"The conceptual plant aims for sustainable water quality forever; self-sufficient energy; resource recycling; friendly environment. It will represent future directions in water technology for cities' construction purposes that can satisfy future needs for urban functional systems while promoting leap-forward development in China's wastewater industry."
Conceptual plants have great significance and can showcase China's advanced wastewater treatment technologies abroad." said Wang Jinnan，Deputy Director-General & Chief Engineer at National Environmental Protection Bureau's Environmental Planning Institute.
He also suggested calculating internal rates of return from perspectives like energy conservation，material recycling，and carbon neutrality when evaluating pollution factories' profitability. Low-carbon energy elements should be incorporated into their design.
By December 31st，2012 Beijing had 41 medium-and-large-scale sewage treatment plants &50 small-scale ones within city limits with a daily handling capacity reaching 389 million cubic meters/day. Beijing has planned to complete construction on 47 recycled-water factories、1290 kilometers sewer lines、484 kilometers recycled-water pipelines before 2015年to reach a wastewater processing rate exceeding90%.
It is estimated that by December31st，2015 Beijing’s processed waste water volume would increase by228 million cubic meters/day resulting in central district treating nearly98%of its waste waters effectively.
