Establishing an Assessment Index System for Sewage Treatment Works in China
Zuxin Xu, Jin Xu
Abstract
The Chinese government has taken great efforts to sewage treatment work since its reform and opening-up in 1978. China has made a dramatic increase in sewage treatment capacity and great improvement in the construction of sewage pipelines with increasing investment in sewage treatment. In the progress of rehabilitating heavily polluted urban rivers, it is essential to establish a scientific assessment index system of sewage treatment benefits in order to provide a quantitative basis for the assessment of sewage treatment works in China. This study comprehensively analyzed sewage treatment situation in China, and established assessment indexes for benefits of sewage treatment works, including the complete indicator of sewage pipe network, the normal indicator of sewage pipe network, the efficiency indicator of sewage treatment plants, and the rate indicator of urban sewage treatment plants. It is the first time that the assessment of urban sewage treatment works in China was quantitatively analyzed at the national level, provincial level and city level by the statistical analysis of publicly available government data. The results show that complete indicator and normal indicator of sewage pipe networks were approximately 0.47 and 0.66, and the efficiency indicator and rate indicator of sewage treatment plants were around 0.46 and 0.62, respectively. The analysis results point that it is very important to elevate the efficiency of urban sewage treatment works. The key work is completing the sewage collection networks in China. The assessment index system of urban sewage treatment works in this study can provide scientific assessment methods for project investment guidance in the rehabilitation of urban water environment. This study is also of great significance for water resources sustainable development.