Program will make cities 'sponges' for rainwater

China's sponge city program will enable 80 percent of its urban areas to collect and recycle rainwater in the near future as the country rolls out a total investment of 86.5 billion yuan ($13.6 billion) over the next three years.

The sponge city campaign, which aims to turn urban areas into "sponges" to absorb and recycle 70 percent of rainwater, will cover 20 percent of China's urban areas by 2020 and 80 percent by 2030, Lu Kehua, vice-minister of housing and urban-rural development, said at a news conference on Friday.

"The campaign is to maximize our efforts to reduce the impact of urbanization on ecology and the environment," he said.