Under the project, water supply, wastewater treatment, and solid waste management facilities will be installed in both rural and urban areas
Image: ADB approves $200m to test an integrated approach for river restoration in China. Photo: courtesy of S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $200m loan to test an integrated approach for river restoration in Henan Province, China.
The test will be performed in one of the tributaries of the Yangtze River Basin in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
ADB said that the project is one of the first to address urban–rural water links under the PRC government’s rural vitalisation strategy.
The Dengzhou City area is one source of water to the PRC government’s south to north water diversion project that supplies water from the Han River in the Yangtze River Basin to the cities of Beijing and Tianjin as well as the provinces of Hebei and Henan.
Due to lack of wastewater and solid waste management, the Tuan River, which runs through the city, is heavily polluted.
Due to pollutants from the Tuan River and the use of fertilizer on the farmland, the groundwater which serves as drinking water for urban and rural areas is highly contaminated.
The project is to improve the river water, which also means cleaner water for people living much further away.
Under the project, water supply, wastewater treatment, and solid waste management facilities will be installed in both rural and urban areas.
Government of the PRC is contributing $223.12m to the project
ADB East Asia senior water resources specialist RabindraOsti said: “Providing people with clean water to drink and simultaneously protecting the environment so clean water is available for future generations is a complex problem that many riverfront cities in the PRC and other parts of Asia and the Pacific are increasingly having to face.”
It will also restore wetlands and demonstrate best practices in soil and water conservation by planting bushes and vegetation for reducing water pollution.
Through research and development, real-time river health monitoring, and community-based watershed management, the project is expected to increase the capacity of the local government to manage water resources.
Slated to be completed by the end of 2025, the total cost of the project is $423.12m, with the Government of the PRC contributing $223.12m.
In September this year, ADB approved a $348.78m loan to improve water resources in Kandahar province through the expansion of Dahla Dam.