On January 22, at the Shenzhen Mobilization Conference on Water Treatment and Improvement held by the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee, on behalf of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Vice President Tang Tao exchanged the cooperative agreement on joining the Shenzhen Water Quality Improvement Technological Alliance (SWQITA) with Wang Lixin, Director-General of the Shenzhen Water Bureau. Also present at the mobilization conference and the agreement exchange ceremony were Zheng Chunmiao, Dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, SUSTech and Tang Yi, Deputy Director of the Engineering Technology Innovation Center, SUSTech. The conclusion of this agreement marked that SUSTech would take a full part in Shenzhen's water treatment.

Scene of the Shenzhen Mobilization Conference on Water Quality Improvement Technological

Xu Qin, Mayor of Shenzhen, chaired the conference. At the conference, Ma Xingrui, Secretary of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee, stressed that Shenzhen's water pollution is serious and most rivers in Shenzhen fall into Class V or are inferior to Class V. He required that departments at all levels should give priority to water treatment in urban management and governance, and pool collective wisdom and strength to win the tough battle of water treatment and improvement. Executive Vice Mayor Zhang Hu deployed the work of water treatment and improvement. He noted that Shenzhen would invest a total of 81.6 billion yuan in water treatment and earmark 18 billion yuan as reserve fund in the coming five years. Shenzhen aims to make clear water and blue sky its bright symbols in eight years, he added.

11 universities, research institutions and state-owned enterprises joined SWQITA as its first group of members, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Harbin Institute of Technology, SUSTech, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Pearl River Water Research Institute, Power Construction Corporation of China, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. and Beijing Enterprises Water Group Limited. Though the School of Environmental Science and Engineering and the Engineering Innovation Center of SUSTech have just been established, they have built a strong research team in fields such as soil and groundwater pollution control, surface water-groundwater interaction and comprehensive management of basin water resources.