Shanghai urged to solve its sewage problems

Shanghai had been urged to solve the problem of sewage being discharged into rivers after an environmental inspection team from the central government visited the city last year.

When the team launched its second round of ecological and environmental protection supervision in the city, it found some districts failing in their work, with punishments not tough enough sometimes.

For example, the work Jiading District did to screen heavy metal-related enterprises was insufficient and the three electroplating enterprises the team checked had problems such as construction started before being approved and setting bypass pipes to directly discharge untreated sewage.

Thirteen informal garbage disposal spots which were closed in the early 2010s hadn't been covered in the city's rectification for environmental protection as the nation had ordered.

In recent years, with an increasing amount of sewage, the problem of discharging straight into rivers stood out, especially during flood season, inspectors said. The local bureau of water affairs failed to work out a good solution to this problem and didn't pay enough attention to it, delaying the city's progress in sewage treatment.

In some areas, the pipes for rainwater and sewage were not set separately.

The concentration of ammonia and nitrogen in 12 of the 26 creeks which have been treated since 2018 rose again, with some turning stinky.

The team asked the Shanghai government to set plans for remediation with the plans and their implementation released to the public.