WITH the last sewage drain outlet in the Shenzhen River and the Shenzhen Bay being sealed Saturday, all of the 31 sewage drain outlets in the river-bay area have been eliminated, which is a big step toward improving the Shenzhen Bay’s water quality, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

In February 2015, China Overseas Property won the bid for the Ludancun estate renovation project. However, after the reconstruction work had started, the company found that there was a 4.5-meter-long and 1.2-meter-wide rainwater culvert beneath the renovation area. The box culvert, which also served as a sewage drainage, discharged 20,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage to the Shenzhen River per day. The river connects with the Shenzhen Bay in the west.

By coordinating with the construction company and the police, the city’s water affairs bureau sealed the box culvert Saturday, marking the elimination of the last sewage drain outlet in the Shenzhen River and Bay area. The sewage collected by the box culvert will be detoured to the water quality improvement station near the Buji River and the treated water will be discharged into the river.

The bureau’s spokesperson said that river regulation work in the Shenzhen River and Bay area has made progress and the following work will be focused on the separation of rain and sewage water drainages and pollution control in the area.

The Shenzhen River and Bay area is one of the city’s earliest developed and fastest-growing areas with a dense population and closely packed buildings. But the area’s sewage collection and disposal system was underdeveloped, leading to the discharge of untreated sewage into the Shenzhen Bay for a very long time.

The bureau has taken various measures to improve the water quality in the area since the city government pledged to improve the water environment in Shenzhen in late 2015. (Zhang Yang)