ADB to support pollution control project for Dongjiang Lake in China

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allowed a $130m project loan to China that is aimed at bolstering environmental protection efforts for Dongjiang Lake in Chenzhou city, which is in southeast Hunan province in the country.

Heavy agricultural activity and increasing urban development have been affecting the quality of water in the lake, which has been declining since 1990s.

ADB senior water resources specialist Yaozhou Zhou said: "Maintaining healthy environmental services in Dongjiang Lake is vital to achieving sustainable development in the Xiang River basin of Hunan, as the basin accounts for 70% of provincial gross domestic product.

"This project will support a government initiative to create an ecological corridor along the Yangtze River by improving watershed management, water pollution control and prevention, and ecological rehabilitation."

The project will be supported with another $132m from the government and is expected to be completed by December 2020.

Hunan Provincial Government and other local governments have already spent around CNY1bn ($156.7m) for setting up protection zones in the Dongjiang Lake basin area for the past 13 years, ADB said.

The project aims to establish solid waste management facilities across the lake areas, which will include improvement of pollution control mechanisms by setting up township wastewater treatment facilities and construction of 330km of sewer pipes.

It will also support green pest control programs across 5,690ha of farmland, and support new urban-rural water supply system by constructing two major water supply plants in Yangdongxia and Chukou. The plants are aimed to deliver water for 42,188 households.

The project will also aim at strengthening flood protection for 20,173 households and 1,640ha of farmland.

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Image: The project supports government efforts to improve waterways across the country. Photo: courtesy of Asian Development Bank.