A sustainable strategy of water reuse and wastewater treatment in some regions in China

摘要

China's demand for water is increasing rapidly owing to the expansion of industry production and the increase of population. The water quality is deteriorating more and more because of the increasing volume of wastewater and the lack of wastewater treatment. In order to find adopted solutions for a sustainable water supply and to maintain the development of economy as well as to reduce the water pollution in different regions in China, the situation of water supply, water consumption and water pollution in Beijing, Hebei province, Shanghai and Hubei province has been analyzed. It was found that the water resource, water supply and water consumption are quite different in different regions, although rural areas are economically similarly structured. Agriculture is the main consumer of water in rural regions in China. For the mega-cities such as Beijing and Shanghai the water is mainly consumed by the industry and by the population as drinking water. The water quality in northern China is inferior to that in southern China. Solutions have to be found for sustainable development and reducing water pollution to improve the quality of water. Firstly, the black water could be separately collected and benefit the agriculture, whereas the grey-water could be treated in semi-centralized waste water treatment plants (WWTP) and reused for different purposes in different regions in China. It is especially important in North China to increase water reuse to meet the increasing water demand, whereas there is an urgent need in South China for more and better wastewater treatment in order to improve the surface water quality.