What do we know about waste water treatment plants in China?
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in urban China generally face operational difficulties.
Why is the sewage treatment capacity of China increasing so quickly?
In recent years, with the fast development of economy and growing environmental protection consciousness of government and citizens, the sewage treatment capacity of China has been established quickly.
How to manage sewage sludge management in China?
According to the Eurostat report ( Eurostat, 2012 ), up-to-date sewage sludge management mainly consists of four different types of disposal methods: reuse in agriculture, composting, incineration for volume minimization or energy utilization, and landfilling. All these should be applied in China.
What are the official regulations of sewage treatment plants?
Official regulation Technology and Policy of Municipal Sewage Treatment and Pollution Prevention and Control —Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), 2000 Covered: environmental protection, resource conservation and recycling, industrial sustainable development, biological and ecological security and healthy, etc. National guidelines
How does sewage reach the treatment plant?
All wastewater is flushed into the sewer system. The pipes from your home join up with the larger pipe on your street and then flow into even bigger sewer pipes (some are bigger than a London bus!). These sewer pipes transport wastewater to the treatment plant.
How is sewage treated in China?
At present, many sewage treatment processes are used in WWTPs in China, including conventional activated sludge treatment, anaerobic–anoxic–oxic (A2/O), anaerobic–oxic (A/O), sequencing batch reactor (SBR), oxidation ditch, etc.
Does China have sewer system?
China's wastewater pipe network totals more than 414,000 km in length2, equivalent to more than 10x the Earth's Equator at 40,075 km.
Does China grow produce in sewer water?
In China, given the rising price of water and chemical fertilizers, up to 10 million farmers are using raw sewage to irrigate and fertilize cropland.
Does China have indoor plumbing?
Most people in China are. Nearly everyone in America has indoor plumbing. Most people in China don't. Japan has one-tenth as many people as China, yet its economy is larger — the second largest in the world.
How is sludge disposed off?
Sludges can be disposed of by liquid injection to land or by disposal in a landfill. There is no process which completely eliminates the need to dispose of treated sewage sludge.
Is China a sanitary country?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS. China has made significant progress in increasing water supply and sanitation coverage over recent decades. Between 1990 and 2012, access to improved water supply increased from 67% to 92% and improved sanitation went from 24% to 65%.
Can you drink the water in China?
Tap water in China is undrinkable, but it is safe to use it for washing and for brushing your teeth. Travelers can drink boiled water or easily find bottled water in convenient stores everywhere. Tap water is not drinkable.
Where does China get their water from?
Of the numerous rivers, the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huai River, Hai River, Pearl River, Songhua River and Liao River are collectively referred to as “the 7 major rivers” of which the Yangtze and the Yellow River are known as the main cradles of the Chinese civilization. China is abundant in lakes.
Does China use human feces as fertilizer?
Human waste is used as an agricultural fertilizer in China and elsewhere. Because the eggs of many helminth species can survive in environmental media, reuse of untreated or partially treated human waste, commonly called night soil, may promote transmission of human helminthiases.
How does New York City dispose of sewage?
In each of the plants, the wastewater goes through “screens” that remove sticks and trash that may have gotten into the sewer from the street, as well as items that shouldn't be flushed, such as wipes. The garbage is moved to landfills and the wastewater moves to the next phase.
Does China recycle water?
3. Over 99% of cities in China are equipped with wastewater treatment plants. Currently, the use of reclaimed water is the main form of water recycling.
Which country has the second highest wastewater treatment capacity?
China has developed multiple technologies to treat wastewater, and now has the world’s second-highest sewerage processing capacity, with around 3,340 wastewater treatment plants as of 2012. 80 percent of these plants use the following three technologies and remove contaminants from sewerage: Oxidization ditches: A modified activated sludge ...
What is the cheapest way to treat wastewater?
Constructed wetland systems are the cheapest method of wastewater treatment, requiring about 30 to 50 percent of the cost of conventional treatment methods. Moreover, China’s rural regions suffer the most from water shortages and water pollution. Rural distribution of wastewater treatment is extremely poor.
What are the problems of rural China?
Moreover, China’s rural regions suffer the most from water shortages and water pollution. Rural distribution of wastewater treatment is extremely poor. Only 3 percent of villages and townships possess wastewater treatment facilities, and more than 90 percent lack proper drainage and sewerage facilities.
What is China's war on pollution?
In 2012, China declared war on pollution, and put aside RMB 3.7 trillion for the battle, with over half of the funds reserved for water pollution.
How can foreign investors help China?
Foreign investors can bring experience and new technologies to China, where national sentiment attaches great importance to the sanitation of water for both municipal use and for the greater environment. The Chinese government is expected to spend an additional RMB 4 trillion to improve water infrastructure and household supply. Its keen support for this effort means that, apart from matters concerning water conservancy, environment and public facility management, foreign investment into the country’s waste water treatment technology is desperately needed and endorsed by the Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment.
What percentage of China's water is not suitable for human contact?
However, China’s most recent environmental report remains negative, suggesting that 61.5 percent of groundwater and 28.8 percent of key rivers were classed as ‘not suitable for human contact’. The contamination is largely caused by industrial and agricultural industries, and the resulting pollution has permeated the earth down to the water table.
Is China's water reliable?
What’s more, these water resources are not reliable and are distributed unevenly among provinces and administrative regions. For China to reverse the state of its severe water pollution, high-grade wastewater treatment technologies are in great demand.
How many kilometers is China's wastewater pipe network?
China’s wastewater pipe network can circle the earth 10x. China’s wastewater pipe network totals more than 414,000 km in length 2, equivalent to more than 10x the Earth’s Equator at 40,075 km. It is quality and not quantity that the pipe network is lacking. Unlike the water supply sector with better established pipes, ...
Which country has the highest wastewater production?
1. China ’s wastewater volume is comparable to the Yellow River’s annual flow. With the largest population in the world, China is easily the top ranked country by the amount of wastewater produced.
What are the pollutants in wastewater?
The government keeps tabs on the following key pollution emissions in wastewater: Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Ammonia Nitrogen (NH4), Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Petroleum, Volatile Phenol, Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, Total Chromium and Arsenic. However, only 7 of these have target reduction levels in the 12FYP:
Is domestic wastewater rising?
Domestic wastewater is rising with urbanisation whilst industrial wastewater is under-reported. Rural double whammy from low treatment rates & agri pollution; for industry, it still pays to pollute than treat. China needs to develop its wastewater sector to tackle worsening water pollution. Efforts to improve wastewater treatment infrastructure are ...
Is China's wastewater industry bullish?
The outlook of for the wastewater industry is bullish; confirmed by Vice-Minister Zhou Jian of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announcing in February 2014 that China will spend RMB 2 trillion to tackle water pollution. Here are 8 things you need to know about wastewater in China: 1. China’s wastewater volume is comparable to ...
Do WWTPs have sludge stabilization systems?
Most municipal WWTPs don’t have excess sludge stabilization systems. The excess sludge is only treated through dewatering and/or thickening and is mainly disposed in landfills. Only a small portion of WWTPs actually reuse sludge in agriculture and other industries 6 (read our review on sludge here ).
Where is China's sewage treatment?
The sewage treatment capacity of China concentrated on the coastal areas and middle reaches of Yangtze River, which were the economically developed zones. Besides, most WWTPs enforced the Class 1 or Class 2 discharge standards, but few realized wastewater reuse.
How can China improve wastewater treatment?
There are three main directions for the future development of wastewater treatment in China. First is to improve the effluent quality. Urban sewage treatment should further improve the processing standards to reduce the pollutant levels of effluent as well as emerging contaminants.
What are the problems with sludge?
As to the sludge treatment and disposal process, there are three main problems in China. (1) The degree of stabilization and disinfection of sludge are low.
How to improve sewage sludge management?
It is crucial to strengthen the sludge treatment and disposal. (1) Improve the management policies and regulations, and raise public awareness for this issue. (2) Implement sufficient operating cost for sludge treatment and disposal. In the developed countries, sludge disposal costs are included in the prices for the water, which account for about 50%. Besides, the sludge treatment projects are required to construct synchronously with WWTPs. (3) Develop new technologies. A great variety of sludge treatment technologies has been developed, such as anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion and composting for sludge stabilization ( Kelessidis and Stasinakis, 2012 ); polymers ( Lee and Liu, 2001 ), thermal ( Feng et al., 2014 ), sonication ( Zhang et al., 2007 ), and chemicals ( Wu et al., 2014) pretreatments of sludge. According to the Eurostat report ( Eurostat, 2012 ), up-to-date sewage sludge management mainly consists of four different types of disposal methods: reuse in agriculture, composting, incineration for volume minimization or energy utilization, and landfilling. All these should be applied in China. (4) Enhance energy and resource utilization from sludge including phosphorus recovery. Evidence indicates that the sludge characteristics and management schemes in China differ from those in developed countries ( Ma et al., 2012 ). Sludge in China has less organic matter (30–50% compared with 60–70% in developed countries), higher sand content, and more heavy metals because of incomplete wastewater treatment systems and the different lifestyles of residents ( He et al., 2007 ). To break the bottleneck of sludge land utilization is the key issue of sludge treatment and disposal in China currently. Land utilization of sludge is an economic and sustainable mean, which is widely used in Europe but is seldom in China.
What are the environmental problems in China?
However, the basic information on sludge production, treatment, and disposal is insufficient. Even in the statistical yearbook, there were two problems about the sludge data: inaccuracy and deficiency. About 15% of the WWTPs did not present their sludge data at all. This also revealed the problem that high portion of sludge was not treated properly in China. The lack of official data limited accurate analysis of sludge issues in China. Following discussions were more from conference reports, literatures, filed investigations and experiences.
What was the ratio of large scale WWTPs to small scale WWTPs?
The ratio of large-scale WWTPs was 13%, which were generally built in large- and medium-sized cities. And the medium-scale WWTPs were the most popular one in China with a ratio of 75%. The small-scale and medium-scale WWTPs were generally built in medium and small size cities.
Which country has the second largest sewage system?
Based on those data, China has the world's second-largest sewage treatment capacity after the United States. Wastewater treatment generally consists of primary, secondary, and sometimes an advanced treatment process, with different biological, physical, and chemical technologies ( Batt et al., 2007 ).
