Sewage treatment facilities bring new life

HEFEI - When Zhang Laiyi first heard of a giant box that could purify her home's sewage, she didn't believe it.

"I'd seen wastewater treatment plants on TV before, but I never expected to have one in our village. A long time ago, we actually used to irrigate our land with domestic wastewater," said Zhang, a resident of Yongting village in Anhui province.

"When wastewater was no longer used for irrigation, it would drain directly into a ditch near our house. It smelled terrible, especially in the summer."