River cleanup draws praise

Shanghai’s rehabilitation of the Suzhou Creek is a project the rest of the world can learn from

Editor’s note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China and the liberation of Shanghai. China Daily Global Weekly is running a special series of stories to commemorate the liberation of Shanghai on May 27, 1949, and revisit the feats accomplished by the city since that fateful day.

Shanghai’s efforts to rehabilitate the Suzhou Creek over the past 25 years were lauded in a report released during the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, last month.

The comprehensive cleanup project for the 125-kilometer-long Suzhou Creek, which has been ongoing since 1993, is something the world can emulate to tackle polluted water rehabilitation, said the report jointly published by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and Shanghai-based Tongji University.

According to official figures, more than half of the world’s 500 biggest rivers are severely depleted or polluted.

Xu Zuxin, a professor from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongji University, said the success of this project, which involves cleaning up the more than 2,000 riverways across 10 districts in the city, can be attributed to the coordination between government agencies, scientific experts, the public, and the application of innovative science and technology.

“The Suzhou Creek occupies a significant geographical location in Shanghai as it traversed the city’s entire downtown area before the development of Pudong New District in 1992. Today, it traverses almost the entire Puxi area,” said Xu, adding that up to the early 1990s, people on both sides of the creek had to cover their noses because of the stench it emitted.