THE second phase for the Shajing water treatment plant in Bao’an was officially initiated Saturday, marking a major step in cleaning up the notoriously filthy Maozhou River.

    The project, at an investment of 1.4 billion yuan (US$209 million), is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

    It will not only solve water pollution in part of the Maozhou River, but also improve public facilities as a 108,000-square-meter ecological park will be built around the area.

    The existing water treatment plant, which handles about 150,000 tons of sewage a day, couldn’t meet the needs of the Shajing area which discharges about 400,000 tons of sewage a day. Most of it is discharged into the Maozhou River without treatment.

    According to the Shenzhen Municipal Water Resources Bureau, the project is on schedule to complete 165 km of pipelines before the end of the year. It will complete 240 kilometers of pipelines and will finish the treament of 210 sewage outfalls before the 2017 Spring Festival.

    Before the Spring Festival, the civil engineering work for the treatment of four branch rivers will be completed and the water quality of the four rivers will be greatly improved by April 2017.

    The Maozhou River cleanup efforts include six projects such as pipeline projects, draining projects, river treatment and water quality improvement.

    Shenzhen signed a framework agreement with Dongguan to clean up the Maozhou River in February 2015. The river runs for 31.3 kilometers through Shenzhen’s Guangming New Area and Bao’an District, as well as Chang’an Township in neighboring Dongguan. It is sometimes called the “black river” by Shenzhen residents and is one of the most polluted tributaries in China, filled with construction waste and other rubbish accumulated from nearby industrial complexes. The river’s cleanup project has been listed among the top 10 key environmental improvement projects in Guangdong.

    Shenzhen will close at least 10 percent of the enterprises that seriously pollute the Maozhou Rive in 2016. Highly polluting factories, including small dye workshops and galvanization factories that don’t meet environmental standards, will be closed. Before the end of 2017, all the galvanization factories will be closed and polluting factories won’t be able to renew their rental contracts.

    The city’s environment commission set a target of bringing 95 percent of liquids discharged into the Maozhou River up to environmental standards by the end of 2017.  (Han Ximin)