Assessment of alternative wastewater treatment approaches in Guangzhou, China

The city of Guangzhou, in Guangdong Province, China, faces major problems i n the development, implementation and application of a comprehensive water pollution control strategy. Since the 1980s, discharges of industrial waste water and domestic sewage have increased dramatically, resulting in a conti nuing deterioration in the quality of urban water bodies. The Pearl River, which passes through the city, is now seriously polluted acid water quality in many sections fails to attain even the lowest national surface water qu ality standards. The 19 urban creeks in the city are also badly polluted, a nd Guangzhou is facing a water shortage due to pollution of its supply sour ces. This paper overviews the water pollution problem of Guangzhou. Existing app roaches to wastewater treatment are evaluated using an Analytic Hierarchy P rocess (AHP) and a form of cost-effectiveness analysis. Problems associated with different approaches are explored. Options to improve the effectivene ss of wastewater treatment are proposed. The paper seeks to demonstrate tha t in Guangzhou, the most effective approach to wastewater treatment involve s the use of small and medium-scale treatment facilities. This is in contra st to the situation in many other parts of the world where greater emphasis has been placed on the development of large-scale facilities for wastewate r collection, transport and treatment. (C) 1999 IAWQ Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.