A passion for sewer photos traces birth of a 鈥榮ponge city鈥
Print Edition
Unlike many photography enthusiasts, 63-year-old Yu Heping took an interest in a very 鈥渆arthy鈥 subject matter: a city鈥檚 sewage system.
Over the past few years, the retiree from a bank has taken thousands of photos documenting how his hometown Pingxiang, in eastern Jiangxi Province, has transformed from a frequent urban flooding victim to an exemplary 鈥渟ponge city.鈥
鈥淚n the past, whenever heavy rains hit Pingxiang, it flooded like an ocean,鈥 said Yu. 鈥淥nce, I even witnessed the collapse of a bridge that was under construction because of flooding.鈥
Surrounded by mountains and with several rivers running through the city proper, Pingxiang used to be very vulnerable to urban flooding during rainy seasons. Many of Yu鈥檚 photos featured waterlogged shops and cars when floods struck.
To address such flooding, which plagues many cities, the central government decided to build 鈥渟ponge cities鈥 to absorb excess water through upgraded sewer systems, filtration pools, wetlands and permeable public spaces.
In 2015, Pingxiang was chosen as one of 16 pilot cities for the 鈥渟ponge city鈥 project. The municipal authorities first set up a 33-square-kilometer experimental zone for the project, before expanding it to the whole city area.
In the upper streams of the river running through the city, authorities built more tunnels to divert water into other waterways. In the middle streams, they relied on lakes to reduce flood peaks and retain water. Downstream, more pump stations were built to enhance the drainage capacity of the city.
鈥淩ather than simply tunneling excess water into watercourses, we also focused on making the city work like a sponge,鈥 said Liu Min, deputy director of natural resources and planning bureau of Pingxiang.
To this end, authorities preserved lakes and ponds and built vast areas of lawns and permeable pavement in the new district of the city. In the old district, they upgraded the city sewer systems to enhance their capability to absorb urban precipitation.
Years of efforts to build a 鈥渟ponge city鈥 in Pingxiang have paid off. Yu could easily tell the change by comparing the photos he took before the project with those after.
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