Wednesday, November 12th

(Dr. Mao (SWARTA), Mohammed Dahab (University of Nebraska) and Ken Kirk (national Association of Clean Water Agencies)


We are meetinng with Dr. Mao Wei De today. He is the Secretary- General of the Shanghai Water Reclamation Trade Association (SWARTA). It was founded in 2005 and acts as kind of a mediator (for water/ wastewater issues) between the government and businesses- similar to GAWP or WEF. Dr. Mao was great fun and gave us a history of wastewater in Shanghai.

(Waterfront in Shanghai at the "Bund"- notice the floating billboard)

Currently 75% of the city's wastewater is treated and they hope to reach the goal of 80% by 2010. The Chinese government will invest the equivalent of $ 7 billion dollars in the next 3 years to improve water source protection. They have come a long way but still have a long way to go in protecting the public health of the people and protecting their environment.

Tuesday, November 11th

I have to say that I am disappointed that we are leaving Guilin today. Before we leave for the airport, I run out to the waterfront area of the Li River and watch the locals perform their morning exercise of Tai Chi. It is awesome! We are off to the big city of Shanghai!

Monday, November 10th

Today we visit the Guilin Water System Construction and Development Company, Ltd. They share with us a project to connect the 2 rivers (Li & Peach Blossom Rivers) with 4 lakes (Rong, Shan, Gui & Mulong Lakes). The purpose of the project was to improve the water quality of the lakes and to beautify the city to increase tourism. It was quite astonishing to think a project of this scale, that displaced over 3,000 residents and multiple industries, separated combined sewer and added additional wastewater mains, was completed in less than 3 years. We took a tour of the river/ lake system and it was really beautiful. I can see why this area has a successful tourism industry.

Sunday, November 9th

Today we take a cruise down the Li River. This area is such a contrast to the ocean of skyscrapers we experienced in Beijing. As we cruise down the river, we see all kinds of agriculture, villages and fishermen. On the way back to town we stop at a local village where we see farmers harvesting crops next to the river and a newly married couple taking pictures in the fields. What great timing!
More photos to come...



Anyways, as it turns out in China, the tap water and drinking water are different. I am trying to find out what is the difference but the information does not seem to be forth coming....something to ponder upon..

Saturday, November 8th

We travel from Beijing to Guilin, which is located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the southern part of the country. This area is one of the most popular vacation destinations for the Chinese people. It is a green and lush region with the convergence of two rivers (the Li & Peach Blossom Rivers) adjacent to four lakes (the Wooden Dragon Lake, Gui Lake, Rong Lake and Shan Lake). The limestone karst hills give a dramatic background to this region

Friday, November 7th

Today is a "cultural day" so we get to see some of the sites of Beijing. We spend most of the morning at Tian'anmen Square, a special gathering place for the people of China (as well as the site of the student protest in he early 90's). Next to the Square we walk to the Forbidden City, the imperial palace for 600 years. This is an incredible piece of history that reminds me how young our history as Americans really is.

I have been eagerly awaiting our visit to the Great Wall. When we arrive, we only have about 2 hours so my husband and I huff and groan as we the climb randomly spaced stairs up 2,500 feet of elevation change. I can't find the words to describe how awesome the wall is.

Thursday, November 6th

This morning we visited the Gaobeidian Wastewater Treatment Plant. It is the largest treatment plat in China with a capacity of 1 million cubic meters per day. There are 9 WWTP in Beijing, with a combined capacity of 2.54 million cubic meters per day. Approximately 53% of the plant's effluent is reused through irrigation, cooling towers, car wash, etc. Bio-gas power generated through methane gas from sludge digestion supplies 25% of the plant's energy needs.

In the afternoon, we went to a hutong village, which is a traditional type of community housing, and met with staff from the Global Village Beijing. We heard from several volunteers including journalist, Wang Yongchan, who spoke with us about the environmental struggles China faces with their water caused by pollution, development and global warming.

Wednesday, Nov 5th (Afternoon)

This afternoon we met with staff & students from the Dept of Environnmental Science & Engineering (DESE)at Tsinghua University. This is the first dept establsihed in China dedicated to the research of environmental problems. (www.env.tsinghua.edu.cn) We had a great exchange of information about industrial waste, regulations and economic growth. China has seen such an incredible economic boom with industry in the past 15 years. But much like the U.S. in the 1960's, the emphasis seems to be on the economics and not on the environmental impact. Dr. George Wong Chog, one of our delegates from North Carolina, gave a powerful declaration as he does not want China to make the see environmental mistakes that we made prior to the Clean Water Act.

In the photo above are Professor Zhang Xiaojian from the DESE and our delgation leader, Dr. Mohamed Dahab from our meeting with the University faculty and students.

The discussion with the delegation seem to consistently come around to enforcement of regulation. There are government regulations on industrial disharge here, however enforcement seems to be a primary issue. There is a disconnect between the local officials and the central government.

BTW, I spoke to a student afterward and put a plug in for GA Tech for a studet looking to come to the states for Environmental Studies.

Settling down with other water loving professionals...

Wednesday, November 5th
Today we had our first in country briefing and met all of the delegates from the States. There are 40 Water Professionals and 18 guests. The professionals represent 29 States and a variety of backgrounds from Engineer to Operator to Activist. We have a diverse group and you can feel the excitement for our journey the next 10 days and a shared love for our profession in the water industry.

Enroute to China

Monday, November 3rd - Tuesday, November 4th We left Los Angeles at 12:00 am on Monday morning. Our plane had to make a stop in Korea to refuel due to strong head winds. I am fine with that.. running out of fuel would not make for a good flight! However, this stop caused us to miss our connecting flight so we had a 6 hour layover in Hong Kong. By the time we made it to Beijing, it had taken us 26 hours of continuous travel. We were exhausted and passed out once we finally made it to the room.