sign in sign up
<<
Home , Baicheng, Guiyang, Jinan, Xiamen

China’s Sponge Program Making ’s watertight presents opportunities for Australian water technologies

BACKGROUND

Rapid urbanisation, poor water management and drainage are large issues in China. More than 230 cities were affected by flooding in 2013. With cities getting bigger and climate change threatening to bring more extreme weather, China has embarked on the ‘sponge city’ initiative.

A sponge city is a city that acts as a sponge with an urban environment planned and constructed to soak up almost every raindrop and capture that water for reuse. Instead of funnelling rainwater away, a sponge city retains it for use within its own boundaries. The recycled water can be used to recharge depleted aquifers, and irrigate gardens and urban farms. When properly treated, the recycled water can replace drinking water, flush toilets or clean homes.

The concept of a sponge city is quite similar to the United States’ Low Impact Development (LID), the United Kingdom’s Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and Australia’s Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD).1 The Chinese interpretation requires redesigning and retrofitting existing urban areas, and designing new urban areas to better capture, clean and reuse water. It requires new equipment, technologies and international collaboration to implement successfully.

Cities in China have become more conscious about rainfall levels and their local environment in general. Rainfall is commonly unsafe to drink due to air pollutants; it can become more contaminated due to poor drainage infrastructure, pollution run-off and sewerage system overflow.

The Chinese Government’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–20) highlighted water conservation as its first priority in the nation’s built infrastructure network. It emphasised that water resource management, water ecology remediation and water environment protection will be the most important element of infrastructure construction.

To implement the plan, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development (MOHURD), and Ministries of Finance and Water released the

Source: www.gochengdu.cn

1 Wang Jiazhuo, China Urban Planning Design Institute, China Water Summit 2015.

‘Construction Guideline for Sponge City’ at the end of 2014. The program is partially funded by the Ministry of Finance. The sponge city initiative aims to maximise water retainment and minimise the effects of drought and flooding by recycling and efficiently applying water supplies and reserves. It will strengthen urban planning and construction management, and use buildings, roads, green spaces and other ecosystems to absorb rainwater, increase reservoir permeability and effectively control stormwater run-off for storage and reuse in urban settings.

PILOT SPONGE CITIES

In April 2015, China's central authorities announced the first 16 pilot sponge cities:

1. Qianan ( Province) 10. ( Province) 2. ( Province) 11. ( Prvince) 3. ( Province) 12. ( Province) 4. ( Province) 13. 5. ( Province) 14. Suining ( Province) 6. ( Province) 15. Guian New ( and City, 7. ( Province) Province) 8. ( Province) 16. Xixian New District (Xian and City, 9. ( Province) Province). These cities will set up systems to allow rainwater to be stored and purified using a permeation system over the next three years. However, the methods and mechanisms of doing this are varied and depend on the local situation.

Over the next three years, the Government will allocate each sponge city between 400 and 600 million RMB (approximately A$85 million to A$128 million) to develop ponds, filtration pools and wetlands; and build permeable roads and public spaces that enable stormwater to be absorbed and reused. Ultimately, the plan is to manage 60 per cent of rainwater that falls in these cities.

Rainfall in most Chinese cities makes it way to the nearest rivers and lakes through the local drainage systems. Much of the nation’s drainage systems is under-developed. This often leads to significant flooding during heavy rainfall. Under the sponge city initiative, nearly 70 per cent of excess rain water will be recycled and reused on greenery, street cleaning and fire-fighting. By 2020, more than 20 per cent of urban areas will meet sponge city objectives and requirements, raising rainfall management to more than 80 per cent by 2030.

FUNDING

The Chinese Government will coordinate arrangements for funding through existing channels to support and guide the the sponge city initiative. Local governments at all levels, along with provincial government, will add further funds to sponge city urban construction funding.

The Government has requested relevant financial institutions to increase credit support for sponge city construction efforts. This increased credit support, coupled with the active promotion of government and social capital cooperation (public–private partnerships), will be used to leverage existing resources.

Apart from Chinese Government–funded pilot sponge cities, other cities are improving urban water management through existing resources. Austrade anticipates that the Chinese Government will announce further pilot cities in coming years.

17 February 2016 Austrade China’s Sponge City Program > 2

Example of typical projects: Chizhou City of Anhui Province, projects over the three years and related investments

Project categories Number of projects Project investment ($M RMB)

Sponge city system for 22 1,400 roads and traffic

System for greenland and 14 790 garden

Housing system 45 16,379

Water ecology and water 29 2,946 safety system

Safeguard systems 7 137

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Austrade is promoting Australian capability in urban sustainable development and water management to China’s government and industries. During AWIC 2016, Urban Sustainability and Water Management program delegates will visit the sponge city pilot cities of Xiamen (Fujian Province) and Jiaxing (Zhejiang Province) from 11 – 15 April 2016.

Austrade recently visited Xiamen and Jiaxing and has further details on their specific sponge city initiatives. To register your interest in attending AWIC or to find out more please contact Austrade.

CONTACT AUSTRADE

China: Sandy Deng, Business Development Manager,

Email: [email protected] or Tel: +86 137 0183 2379

Australia: Leonie Smith, Senior Trade Adviser – Water,

Email: [email protected] or Tel: +61 3 9648 3179

Chinese official document: http://www.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/zhengcefabu/201510/t20151016_1507043.htm

17 February 2016 Austrade China’s Sponge City Program > 3