Hefty investment, both financial and physical, revived the glory of Suzhou Creek - the mother river of this Chinese city. The river rehabilitation lasted for 11 years - 1998-2008 - with a total investment of 14 billion Yuan. Through long-term tireless efforts, main streams of Suzhou Creek turned clean, giving off no odor in 2000.
After years of comprehensive treatment and conservation, Suzhou Creek put on a green coat and shook off the dirty black one. Briefing a multi-party delegation from Pakistan - led by Senator Sherry Rehman and Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed - the Chinese officials said it was not an easy task to eliminate pollution and ensure purity.
“It took a long time. But in the end the result was beautiful for the people. They all love the revived lovely look. The river had returned to its golorioys days. Years back it was beautiful before the pollution struck,” said one official.
The major water quality indicators of urban part of Suzhou River had gradually improved since 2002, reaching the quality standard for water for scenery. Mengqing Park, located on the southern bank of Suzhou River, is the first flowing water park of Shanghai, which vividly presents the process of rehabilitating the creek and technologies for eco-environmental protection.
Today, the regulation of Suzhou River, the establishment of “Mengqing Park” and other riverside greens and parks, as well as the close-to-water shorelines not only improve the citizen’s living environment, but also turn Suzhou River into an ideal urban ecological residential quarter integrating leisure and sightseeing.
Chinese officials said the pollution control at Suzhou River in Shanghai had paid off. The environmental clean-up scheme has turned the famous Suzhou River in Shanghai from a polluted, stinking river into a clean river with limpid water.
The 125-kilometre-long river, with a 23.8 km-long section traversing the urban area of Shanghai, was once a clean source of drinking water and an ideal site for summer swimming, according to elderly residents. For more than a century, however, industrial pollutants forced residents living along the river to keep their windows tight shut to keep off nauseating odors.
The polluted river impeded to some extent the development and opening-up of Shanghai municipality. The Shanghai government began addressing the problem in the year 2000. During the first phase of the project, it allocated 30 billion yuan ($ 3.6 billion) over the past three years to build 110 key environmental projects in five areas, said Hong Hao, director of the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.
Two garbage incineration plants, each with a capacity of handling 1,000 tons per day, were built. And with regard to sewage treatment, there was a 44 percent rise in the amount of garbage treated before discharge. In the area of urban foliage, trees, bushes and grass were planted on some 3,000 hectares to raise the green coverage rate in urban Shanghai from 19.8 to 30 percent.
The second-phase environmental scheme, to be carried out over the next three years, is expected to be launched soon. Its aim is to improve quality of the river water, reduce air pollution, raise the treatment rate of solid residue and further increase the percentage of urban green coverage.