BEIJING, April 13 --  Over the past three years, China has invested over one billion yuan in research on developing water pollution control technology. Now the efforts have begun to pay off: the country has developed an array of technologies that can help solve heavy water pollution problems.

    The water pollution control project covers five main aspects: technologies that are used to solve water pollution in lakes and restore their ecological environment, technologies used to improve water quality in cities, technologies to guarantee the safety of drinking water, and new technologies on biological treatment of water, and on forming waste water treatment equipment into a complete set.

   The major achievement includes technologies that can be used to improve overall aquatic environment at lake sources, and restore the ecological environment for lakes after they are heavily polluted. These technologies are regarded as essential for solving the lake pollution problem. The technologies have been put into use in 11 cities, including Wuhan and Suzhou, and different schemes that can improve the water quality in these cities based on their specific conditions.

    The research team on the water pollution control project said some technologies have begun to produce good results, and some have been used in handling the Songhuajiang River pollution incident that occurred last year. In future, these technologies will be applied to solving the water pollution problems in areas such as the Three Gorges Dam, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Taihu Lake, and Huaihe River reaches.

    The key technology program was initiated in 2002. China's central government invested 350 million yuan in the project and another 700 million yuan came from local governments and related social institutions. So far, applications have been filed for patents for more than 400 technologies in the program. Moreover, 14 sets of standards have been set to control various kinds of water pollution, four R&D centers have been established, and more than 100 big pilot projects have been undertaken from the program.

    (Source: Chinanews.cn)