Shanghai mulls local measures

Shanghai, on China's east coast, is mulling introducing its own "sponge city" standards that could effectively manage a flood or drought, and it is expected that the infrastructure standards for the drainage and storage of rainwater will be formulated by 2020, according to Gu Jinshan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

"Our goal is that 80 percent of the rainfall will be collected in storage facilities below roads, squares, and parks to ease the burden on the conventional drainage system," he said.

The city's characteristics, such as the relatively high level of underground water and the comparatively lower level of soil permeability, will be taken into consideration when the standards are devised, he said.