Xiamen leads the way in reusing rainwater

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Take a stroll in southern China's coastal city of Xiamen - which hosts this year's annual BRICS Summit - and you may notice that many of the roads are paved with bricks of a different kind.

The water permeable pavement is part of the "Sponge City" campaign which was launched in 2015 to deal with flooding, a common problem for the city.

Xie Sheng, an engineer at the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute, says traditionally greenery slowed down rainwater, but now these areas are being largely replaced with concrete and other hard surfaces due to rapid urban development, which contributes to the flooding problem.

The concept of the "Sponge City" is to store and purify rainwater before it flows into the drainage system.

In this way, flooding levels can be reduced.

CGTN Photo

Xiang’an, a new residential community in Xiamen, uses a number of nature-based solutions to store rainwater, including permeable pavements, rain gardens, overflow relief gullies and green roofs.

When a storm hits the city, water is captured and filtered through these facilities.

Since its inception, this pilot program has received positive feedback.

“One of my friends lived in Zhangzhou, which is not far away from Xiamen. Whenever there was a big downpour, water went everywhere. Fortunately, we don’t have that problem here anymore,” said one local.

Xiamen is one of 16 pilot "Sponge Cities" across China and an additional 70 projects are scheduled to be completed in the city by the end of this year.

Despite costing more than 100 million yuan per square kilometer, Xie said these "Sponge City" projects are cost-effective.

“This program is addressing the root cause of flooding, as opposed to using other solutions which are much more expensive, such as constructing a rainwater retention tank or a pumping station. In addition, the costs would be even lower if all new residential communities were equipped with these natural facilities from the beginning.”