Current state and future perspectives of sewer networks in urban China

Chinese authorities and the public have largely ignored sewer networks; however, various problems are emerging nationwide with the increase construction of new sewers. The current state of sewer network construction, administration, and maintenance in China is comprehensively reviewed in this study. Serving about 444 million people, 511,200 km of sewer lines are located in urban areas. In 2014, $7 billion was invested in sewer network construction. However, both the sewer pervasion rate and the per capita sewer length were significantly lower than those in developed countries. Sewer administrative agencies in local governments are uncoordinated. Laws, regulations, and standards are incomplete, and some practices are unscientific. The future situation of sewer maintenance is extremely grim because sewer corrosion control measures have not been launched. Moreover, inspection and rehabilitation chiefly rely on traditional approaches. In contrast, the overall market share of innovative technologies is very low owing to high cost, funds shortage, and technical limitations. Approaches such as liner inversion cured-in-place pipe, pull-in ultraviolet light cured liners, and spiral wound lining are applied mostly in economically developed regions. According to status and problem analyses, China’s top priority will be to conduct aggressive maintenance work in sewer networks in the future. New technical route, corrosion control - periodic visualized inspection - trenchless rehabilitation, could be the best option for future sewer maintenance in China. Instructions and opportunities for applying this technical route are discussed in detail in this study. Finally, additional factors in the development of sewer networks in China are suggested.