Workers on a sewage collection ship on the Thousand-islet Lake in Chun'an county, Zhejiang province. [Photo/zj.people.com.cn]

Chun'an county in Zhejiang province, which is home to one of China's most famous unspoiled bodies of water – the Thousand-islet Lake – has now become a model for sewage treatment.

Over the National Day holiday in early October, the Thousand-islet Lake scenic area received many tourists from all over the country. The lake's numerous tourist boats and crowded hotels produced an unusually large amount of sewage for local authorities to deal with.

During the eight-day holiday, the Chun'an government assigned three non-motor wharf boats to collect sewage from tourism boats and three motor boats to collect sewage from the islets every day. They collected 350 metric tons of sewage per day.

Since 2009, the Chun'an government has invested a total of 45 million yuan ($6.7 million) into the establishment of a sewage collection system for boats, a sewage transfer system, and a land-based sewage treatment system. The three systems have helped streamline sewage treatment and fully cover all boats in the county at all hours. So far, the systems have treated more than one million tons of sewage generated by the boats in the Thousand-islet Lake.

Chun'an county has also recently introduced a water quality real-time monitoring and early-warning platform powered by advanced technology. The platform offers detailed information about the production, collection, and treatment of sewage from every ship, scenic spot, and hotel in the Thousand-islet Lake.

Chun'an has achieved zero sewage emissions from the 3,598 ships sailing throughout the 533-square-meter Thousand-Islet Lake.