Asia's largest subterranean water recycling plant commenced operation in Beijing on Thursday, one of the measures being rolled out by the capital to manage sewage in the city proper.
The three-storey plant, located beneath a wetland park in southern Beijing, is designed to handle 600,000 cubic meters of waste water every day and the processed water will be fed into rivers and lakes or used to maintain public parks, said Zhang Wenchao, head of the plant.
All of the sewage will be processed underground while any waste gas will be released through three towers after being treated, Zhang added.
During the past three years, Beijing has built or improved 60 water recycling plants, according to Duan Wei, chief engineer of Beijing Water Authority.
The facilities have increased the city's daily sewage treatment capacity to 6.72 million cubic meters from 3.98 million cubic meters, and raised the ratio of treated sewage to 90 percent from 83 percent, Duan said.
The city plans to set up 27 new water recycling plants and upgrade 15 others in the following years.
