Mr. Sun Pingyi
Advisor, Weihai Environmental Protection Agency,
China

1. The City

The city of Weihai is located at the eastern tip of the Shandong Peninsula. It covers a gross area of 5,436km2, with a population of 2.47 million. 

As a new developing coastal city, it enjoyed many preferential policies and a unique location, which lead to rapid development for the city and economy. In 2006, compared with the foundation of Weihai city in 1987, the developed urban area had grown from 13.1 to 92km2; the urban population had grown from 233,000 to 619,000; GDP from 3.42 billion yuan to 136.85 billion yuan. The GDP growth rate is 21.4% annually.

Weihai has paid much attention to environmental protection, along with its rapid urbanization and industrialization. It received the awards of 1st National Sanitary City, National Model City for Environmental Protection, National Garden City, and National Excellent Tourist City. It has twice been given the International Award for Best Practice for Comprehensive Management of the Living Environment by UN-HABITAT, in 1996 and 2000; received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honor Award in 2003; was awarded the name of eco-city from the National Environmental Administration of China in 2006.

Wastewater management is carried out by the Weihai Water Affairs Group, a government owned enterprise, under the administration of the Construction Bureau of Weihai Municipal Government. The Environmental Protection Bureau is the supervision department

In the early 1980s, all factories and hotels had to treat their wastewater individually to meet the tough standards set, and discharge it into the environment. Then, the government of Weihai decided to use central treatment methods, letting the municipal administration bureau construct a sewage treatment plant. All the domestic, service, business, and industrial wastewater could be discharged into the sewage treatment plant, using the secondary treatment method, treated properly, and discharged.

Now, three sewage treatment plants have been built, and the sewage treatment rate has reached 83%. Its proper discharge has improved the water environment, keeping the water quality in the rivers, reservoirs and sea at the national standard.

Along with the rapid urban and economic development and population changes, the demand for water supply has increased rapidly. But the water resources are limited. Though several alternatives for its supply have been explored, water is still the bottleneck for the development of Weihai. Although much attention has been paid to sewage treatment, some untreated sewage is still discharged into the water bodies directly. Farming activities, like usage of fertilizer and pesticides in the up-stream of the water resource reservoirs, are a threat to water quality. Residents and factories are encouraged to save water, and reuse and recycle as much as possible, and to explore new water resources like desalination, in order to make the development of urban areas, the economy and society more sustainable.

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2. The Proposed Action Plan

A feasibility study will be conducted to examine ways to extract more water from the sludge and to transform the sludge into more useful products. Kobe’s system will be examined closely to determine how it works and what its costs and benefits are. In addition, the systems of other cities in China will be examined to determine the feasibility of a new system for Weihai. During the AUICK First 2007 Workshop, Kobe City introduced their water environment management measures; they have done a very good job. A most impressive element is that they incinerate the sewer sludge, and use the incinerated sludge ash as construction material, meaning that the sludge is treated thoroughly. Could this method be used in Weihai? A feasibility study of sludge incineration is necessary. The goal of this Action Plan is to find the best balance of technique, economy and environmental aspects to deal with the sewer sludge in Weihai.

Actions:

To carry out the feasibility study we need to do the following:

1. Collect the information of sewer sludge treatment in Weihai. That includes the amount of sewer sludge produced, the contents of the sludge, the cost of the present treatment method and the problems related to it. It is then necessary to predict how much sewer sludge will be produced in future.
2. Collect the information about the sewer sludge treatment situation both in China and abroad. That includes the technology, the cost and its environmental impact; get a general idea of the sewer sludge treatment situation and its trends.
3. Carry out some case studies. Choose three cities in China and one city abroad (Kobe is the first choice) that treats sludge properly, go to the field, and do on site investigations.
4. Comparison of alternatives. Choose at least three possible alternatives, analyze the levels of technology, investment and running cost, as well as environmental impact, comparing the alternatives to arrive at a conclusion on which is the best.
5. Consult with experts and the public, especially the stakeholders, gather their opinions and suggestions, improve the best alternative.
6. Send the report to the relative authorities to get approval.

Time Frame: July 2007- July 2008