Ke Jiayun|2022-12-07
Suburban district uses technology to transform landscape

High technology is helping Shanghai's suburban Jinshan District to morph from an area of smokestack industries to a livable home.

As one of the seven major chemical centers in China, Jinshan once represented the traditional industrial paradigm. However, in recent years, the district has seen a leap from traditional industry to a new "ecological civilization."

Now it uses intelligent tools, such as drones, unmanned ships and robots which can crawl in pipes to detect sewage for water pollution prevention and control.

When a drone is flying above the creeks and checking the condition of sewage outfalls, the scenes filmed by its camera are sent to a real-time screen monitored by people with the Jinshan District Ecology and Environment Bureau.

Meanwhile, the unmanned ships are also sailing along the river to detect pollution.

An official from the bureau said in the past, the condition of sewage outfalls was mainly checked by people patrolling on foot or on ships. However, there are often some areas that people cannot reach, and if the water is dirty, the situation in the water cannot be seen by their eyes, so these high-tech means help a lot.

Zhu Yigao, deputy director of the bureau, said that Jinshan District has 2,500 kilometers of creeks. This year they have checked more than 20,000 sewage outfalls from 872 kilometers of creeks, 35 percent of the total. They plan to complete all the work within three years.