Wuxi Mayor Huang Qin (center) attends the ceremony announcing the construction of six water management projects worth nearly 3 billion yuan ($424 million) at Wuxi's Taihu Lake on Oct 30. [Photo/WeChat account: news-wuxixinwen]
Construction began on a total of six water management projects worth nearly 3 billion yuan ($424 million) at Wuxi's Taihu Lake on Oct 30.
In the summer of 2007, there was an outbreak of large blue-green algae in Taihu Lake, China's third-largest freshwater lake, which led to black and odorous water. In response, a number of programs were launched in Wuxi to fight the problem.
Wuxi's efforts to tackle Taihu Lake pollution over the past several years have set a national example. The amount of silt that the city has cleared accounts for 70 percent of the total in Jiangsu province, said Zhu Shuangqing, director of the Wuxi Water Conservancy Bureau Office.
Wuxi continues to promote water management in 161 rivers to ensure blue-green algae doesn't return.
The ecological dredging pilot project at Meiliang Lake will explore effective ways to deposit silt into Taihu Lake and build a Taihu dredged silt yard with existing island reefs within the lake. The results will be used as an example for large-scale Taihu dredging.
Wuxi Mayor Huang Qin attended the ceremony and said the newly-launched projects play an important role in flood control, water resource regulation and water protection.
"All departments should take concerted action to ensure the success of these projects," he said.
