Second Shandong Environment - under WB/GEF Partnership Investment Fund for Pollution Reduction in the LME of East Asia

The Second Shandong Environmental Project, the second project to be financed under the investment fund, was approved by the World Bank in February 2007. The GEF cofinancing takes place within the Yantai wastewater component of the project. GEF support would initiate and facilitate implementation of the proposed major institutional and technological task to demonstrate to Chinese municipalities the rationale of proper management of wastewater facilities. The key objectives are: to (a) demonstrate in the pilot-size septic-tank project the feasibility of institutional and technical arrangements ensuring improvement of local environment status; and (b) disseminate among Bohai Declaration signatories and beyond the feasibility of positive impact on reduction of pollution load annually discharged to the Bohai and Yellow Seas.

The project is innovative in that it is the first to address the long-standing problem of septage management in PR China. Chinese construction law warrants the construction of septic tanks for residential buildings, regardless of the collection system, and regardless of the capacity, or demand, for septic tank servicing. However, there are no institutional arrangements, nor are there assigned responsibilities, for septage management within Chinese wastewater institutional systems. The consequence is the absence of servicing, with resulting poor sanitary conditions. The project will therefore pilot a new institutional arrangement whereby the responsibility for septage management is clarified within Yantai and the capacity of the wastewater company is build to include this sector. The pilot demonstration, if successful, will be replicated, in partnership with PEMSEA.

Project Objectives

The objective of the project is to reduce land-based pollution along the Yantai coast and Bohai Sea through the development of a pilot septic tank management system in Yantai and dissemination of the Yantai model in Shandong Province and in other parts of PR China.

Oriented towards removing legal, institutional and technical barriers in the septage sector in PR China, the project also aims to would develop methods for servicing septic tanks and treating septage sludge, activities that are almost non-existent in Chinese cities. These techniques would contribute to a reduction in land-based pollution reaching the Bohai Sea, a pollution hotspot in the seas of East Asia.

Project Area

Shandong Province is situated in the east coast of PR China. It has a 3,000 kilometer coastline on the conjunction between the Bohai and Yellow Seas, both of which drain a major part of the province. The province is divided into 17 municipalities and 139 countries, districts and cities. It has a population of nearly 92 million with approximately 40% of people living in urban areas. Shandong ranks second in GDP growth. The Yantai Municipality in which the GEF project is located, is in the Shandong peninsula. It is a port on the Bohai Sea with 1.1 million inhabitants in an area of 135 square kilometers. The city industry is largely industrial with very small part in agriculture.

Documents & Resources
project-document Shandong project Concept Document results-notes 2011 Results Notes - Second Shandong Environment map East-China Sea