Shanghai will be able to treat 70 percent of its sewage by the end of next year, thanks to eight new sewage treatment plants and the enlargement of 16 existing ones.

Currently, the city has 34 sewage treatment plants to deal with some 5.4 million tons of sewage discharged every day from homes and work units.

By the end of this year, the overall sewage treatment rate in the city is expected to be 65.3 percent, up 2.5 percent from last year. The goal for next year is to hit 70 percent.

"To achieve that, the city needs to improve the current sewage pipeline networks," said Gu Jinshan, deputy director of the Shanghai Water Affairs Administrative Bureau, during an environment inspection organized by the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress yesterday.

"Some 12 new pipeline networks will be finished next year."

However, the problem with the silt left during sewage treatment remains unsolved.

Currently the city yields some 1,000 cubic meters of silt every day during its sewage treatment process. Most of that silt is dried and buried but due to the lack of treatment it may pose another risk to the water and soil.

"We have conducted research into the problem and a rough timetable to address the silt treatment is in the making," Gu said, pointing to a plan to treat 30 percent of the silt by next year.

Inspectors yesterday also visited a local factory which has transformed its coal-burning boiler into a gas burning one, to reduce air pollution.

"In the past few years, the city has shut down over 6,000 factory boilers which burnt coal," said Wang Jue, an official with the Shanghai Environment Protection Bureau.

The remaining 30 coal-burning boilers in the center of downtown will all be shut down by the end of next year and transformed into gas burning ones, Wang said.

By then the city's downtown area, at the size of 100 square kilometers, will be a coal-free zone.

"As the cost for using clean energy is about five times higher than using coal, the job to shut down these boilers has always been difficult," Wang said.

(China Daily December 17, 2004)