The city of Suzhou has set forth a three-year goal of water quality improvement campaign in the ancient urban area with 48 rivers to be dredged with high standards within this year.
Water has given Suzhou a different kind of agility and charm. However, with the development of the city’s economy, some of the water ecosystem has become damaged.
In the Shantang River under the Wangshan Bridge, workers are pumping silt from the bottom of the river to the shore. The last dredging in the 3.8-kilometer-long Shantang River was done in 2012. The river has since then not drained for dredging any more.
In the 12 three-year action plans, the expansion of the surface water and the clearing and siltation in the downtown are important projects for improving the water quality of rivers in this ancient city. The project includes the implementation of a high standard of dredging for 48 rivers in the urban areas in two phases. At present, 75% of the dredging in the 21 rivers has been done for first phase of the project and the second phase dredging of the five rivers, including the Linton River and the Pingjiang River, has also started ahead of schedule.
The river watercourses over the 14.2-square-kilometer ancient city will be dredged and the work is to be completed within the year. In the end, the main water quality indicators of the rivers in the central urban area will reach class-III water standards. The transparency of important rivers will be increased by more than one meter, and that of the other rivers by 90 centimeters.
(Source: Jiangsu International Channel)
