This Day, That Year

Item from April 24, 1989, in China Daily: The first phase of the largest sewage treatment plant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, covers more than 36 hectares and can process 400,000 metric tons of wastewater every day.

Cities across China have invested heavily in sewage treatment plants in the past few years, playing an important role in improving the urban environment. By the end of 2015, 1,944 treatment plants had been built, with a combined capacity of 140 million cubic meters per day. The annual amount treated is 42.9 billion cu m, which means about 92 percent of all sewage in cities is treated.

Although great efforts have been made in urban sewage treatment, the threat of pollution from sewage sludge has persisted nationwide.