China has invested more than 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) in urban waste water treatment since 1998 through cash raised by selling treasury bonds, a senior construction official said yesterday.

The money has supported 317 urban waste water treatment projects across the country, said Zhang Yue, deputy director of the urban construction department at the Ministry of Construction.

Another 600 million yuan (US$72.5 million) has been used to construct 22 waste water recycling projects, which boast a recycled waste water supply capacity of 1.5 million cubic meters per day overall.

On the first day yesterday of a two-day national conference in Beijing on the construction of waste water treatment works, Zhang said more money will be raised from treasury bonds and used to fund waste water treatment next year.

China will push forward the industrialization of urban waste water treatment and set up a pricing system that matches market-economy rules, he said.

The current average price for waste water treatment in China is as low as around 0.30 yuan (4 US cents) per ton.

Most of the funding for waste water treatment has come from government investment but this is far from enough, Zhang said. Non-government sectors will be encouraged to invest in this area, he added.

The establishment of waste water recycling facilities will also be encouraged.

More waste water pipe networks will be built in Chinese cities because the existing networks often fail to meet the demand of existing treatment plants, Zhang said.

In November, pipe network projects were designed for 70 cities, involving the construction of 3,200 kilometers of pipeline and funding of 5 billion yuan (US$604 million).

The water-pollution situation is pressing in China. According to the Ministry of Construction, 63 percent of rivers and more than 90 percent of urban underground water are polluted.

The annual discharge of waste water in China has reached 32.8 billion cubic meters. Currently, 36.4 percent of waste water is treated.

There are now 452 waste water treatment plants across the country, with a total capacity of 31 million cubic meters a day.

Under the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), 45 percent of waste water in China will be treated and the rate will be 60 percent in cities with a population of more than 500,000.

(China Daily December 20, 2002)