Funding gaps found in urban sewage infrastructure

China's local authorities have failed to perform well in their legal obligation to fund urban infrastructure for sewage disposal, a national legislative report has found.

As the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law has stipulated, local governments at or above the county level are duty-bound to fund facilities needed for urban sewage treatment in their jurisdiction, either by including special funds into their budgets or mobilizing money from other channels.

Inspections initiated by the National People's Congress, however, found large funding gaps, said Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, as the report was submitted to a bimonthly session of the committee on Friday.

The capacity of environmental protection infrastructure, especially pipe networks for sewage disposal, was found to lag behind actual needs in many urban areas. Facilities in use are yet to be well-maintained, he said.

To check how effectively the law has been implemented, the inspections covered all 31 provincial regions in the Chinese mainland from April to June. While the NPC Standing Committee inspected eight of the regions, it entrusted its provincial subordinates to check the others.

Due to insufficient public investments, Sichuan province, for example, suffered a gap of about 70 billion yuan ($9.9 billion) to make its garbage and sewage disposal facilities adequate enough, he noted.

The insufficiency of pipe networks as well as breakages and improper connections of these facilities are major causes of odorous black water bodies in the country's urban areas, Li said, quoting a third-party report done for the inspections.