In China's rural areas, it's a challenge to work out how to handle waste water while protecting the local ecology. In eastern Zhejiang Province, a new sewage treatment project has been launched to help solve this problem. Wu Bin reports.

It's a huge day for this mountainous village in east China's Zhejiang Province. All the villagers are eating together to celebrate a local temple fair.

It's a joyous occasion, but also means more waste. In the past, the waste could be randomly poured into rivers or ponds in the village. But a new treatment system has made a big difference.

Chen showed us the tubes introduced this year for collecting waste water.

CHEN WANLING Head, Local Sewage Management Company "Like this one is the tube for the septic tank, or bathroom. Over there are the tubes for bath water and kitchen water. The tubes are then connected to a pipeline underground, collecting the village's sewage and transferring it to a terminal."

The terminal Chen mentions is part of a project called Watermark initiated in 2009 by U.S. company Xylem and the China Women's Development Foundation.

The terminal in this village is the new step in helping manage sewage in rural China.

BENNY ZHENG Senior Development Engineer, Xylem China "We found that their village sewage treatment system is relatively outdated, and we decided to make this village a pilot in Zhejiang. In May this year, our sewage site was completed."

WU BIN Shangen village, Zhejiang Province "This is the sewage collected from the village, and it's visibly dirty. That's the water after treatment, and I will get some to see the result. You can see it's quite clean."

The company's representative showed us how this is done.

"Let's take a look at the water here."

Reporter: The water hasn't been treated yet, has it?

"No, the sewage is not treated yet. It's now in the process of selection."

In the early stage, the waters are still quite smelly, but they've sealed the smell quite well, so even when you're standing on the terminal, you have no idea what's beneath your feet unless you open the cover.

And after several steps, the sewage has reached the top standard to be discharged into nature.

In fact, the corporate representative told us higher standards are being used in Zhejiang than the national ones.

WANG XUEMEI Local villager "After this project, it has brought a big change to the living environment of our village. In the past, especially in summer, there would be a lot of mosquitoes and the odor of water, but now the air is very fresh."

The terminal in this village has the capacity to handle over 150 tons of sewage per day, providing a clean environment for over 1000 villagers.

The Watermark project has so far provided sewage processing equipment to five villages, but will expand to more rural communities. Wu Bin, CGTN, Zhejiang Province.