Planning for the Restoration of Polluted Rivers in Sichuan Province, China

The Sichuan Province of China is located in the Yangtze River Basin just east of the Himalayan Mountains, and is one of the most populated Provinces in the country. The Province is also a semi-tropical, productive agricultural area. This agricultural abundance is assisted by major irrigation projects, the largest one dating back to 300 B.C. (Min River, Dujiangyan) Water is abundant but poorly distributed throughout the year. Snowmelt is available in the late spring and over 75% of the annual rainfall occurs between May and September. There is currently little storage capacity available to provide for flow augmentation during low-flow periods. Most of the smaller streams tributary to the Yangtze are heavily polluted by a combination of raw sewage, industrial waste, urban and rural polluted runoff and other factors. The Sichuan Urban Environment Project (SUEP) was formulated by the Sichuan Provincial Government and the World Bank in an effort to recover these surface waters. However, the lack of adequate flow during dry periods makes it very difficult to develop cost-effective programs to meet desired ambient stream quality standards.