$1.4T investment helps China restore freshwater ecosystem's oxygen
3 hours ago
- #Climate Change
- #Water Quality
- #Environmental Remediation
- Massive infrastructure investments in wastewater treatment and pollution control in China reversed oxygen depletion in rivers and lakes, even with climate warming.
- Dissolved oxygen levels increased by 12% per decade in rivers and 4.5% in lakes from 2005 to 2022, despite water temperature rises of 1.2°C per decade.
- China's spending on wastewater treatment grew from $140 billion annually in 2000 to about $1.4 trillion recently, increasing treated wastewater from 34% to over 98%.
- Hypoxia events in rivers dropped sharply from 170 during 2005-10 to 25 during 2017-22, with stronger improvements in smaller rivers and central China.
- The study highlights that targeted pollution reduction can offset oxygen loss from warming, offering optimism for global water restoration efforts.