Guangzhou's government planned to stem sewage flows from 116 of the city’s creeks and canals into the Pearl River by 2007, the Sunday Morning Post quoted an official as saying.

Chen Xianqiang from the municipal government said 35 creeks and canals would be cleaned up this year and 50 next year. Sewage flows into 24 creeks and canals had been blocked by last year.

The city plans to build pipes along the creeks and canals to collect wastewater and channel them to sewage plants. More than 900 km of pipes would be needed to cover the entire city, Chen said, and 261 km had been laid already. The pipe-laying process was slow because of complications arising from relocating residents.

The project to clean up Longtan canal was awarded to a contractor last November, but work has been unable to start because of unresolved relocation issues.

One of the prominent cleanup projects is on Shamian Island, whose tourism potential has been overpowered by the stench that wafts from the river.

Foreign traders built stately residences on the island in the 1900s.

The channels around the island were drained in the spring and silt was dredged. The next stage of the 6 million yuan (US$726,000) project will see the installation of rubber dams that will permit water to flow but reduce silt build-up.

Work on another Donghao canal that lies beneath the elevated inner ring road, began in 2000 and will be completed next month. Sewage from the canal will be redirected to the Liede water treatment plant.

(Shenzhen Daily June 7, 2005)