CD Voice | Sponge cities – Xi's plan becoming a reality
In 2013, President Xi Jinping introduced a new term to the global green glossary – "sponge cities."
In doing so, he was addressing a problem urban planners had long struggled with – how to prevent rainwater from flooding cities. But Xi was also looking at ways of conserving water, instead of just sending it down the drain.
Until then, much of the global effort had been focused on draining rainwater out of cities as quickly as possible via pipes and canals to avert flash floods. But only piecemeal measures had been taken to secure it.
In China, there was an added urgency due to rapid urbanization. Many cities felt overwhelmed by the growing population, and the situation worsened during the rainy season, with flooding a daily occurrence.
Xi's solution was simple – morph cities into urban sponges comprising rain gardens and permeable pavements that would absorb water, that could be used for farming or purified for drinking.
"The sponge city concept represents an innovative way of capturing rainwater while simultaneously making cities more livable," said David Sedlak, author of the best-selling book Water 4.0: The Past, Present and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource and a professor of environment at the University of California, Berkeley.
"China's integration of the sponge city concept into its urban planning will help it to diversify its water supply, provide another source of water to rapidly growing cities and prepare for future droughts," Sedlak said in an email to China Daily last week.
Last year, the project got underway in 16 cities with an initial investment of between 6.5 billion yuan ($950 million) and 10.5 billion yuan. In April, another 14 cities and more investment were added.
Nowhere is the transformation more evident than in Yuelai New City in Chongqing, which is undergoing a major urban renewal. With its water-absorbing pavements and permeable parking lots, the district's sponge city project already covers close to 20 million square meters.
Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is another city participating in the project. Officials there say that in the first year, the city is hoping to harvest about 10,000 cubic meters of rainwater. Changde, Hunan province, is yet another example where the project is taking shape.
And just last week, a subsidiary of State-owned metal trader China Minmetals Corp said it was in talks with cities in several provinces about sponge city solutions that would provide technology for the project.
The central government has set a construction target of 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2030.
While funding is not an issue, city planners are facing many logistical challenges nationwide, key among them retrofitting cities with the new technology. There is also opposition from certain quarters over construction hassles that create daily inconvenience for many.
But all signs indicate that Xi's plan for environmentally friendly cities is closer to becoming a reality – much faster than many expected three years ago.
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