Rain, rain goes away, not on park grounds to stay
- Source: Global Times
- [10:48 June 28 2010]
- Comments
Visitors walk in the rain Sunday along the Expo Axis inside the Expo Park. Photo: IC
By Ni Dandan
Despite another rainy day for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, visitors' socks remained dry thanks to the installation of an advanced drainage system running inside the Expo Park.
"My sneakers didn't get that wet even though it was pouring all morning," Shen Dongmei, a local visitor, told the Global Times Sunday. "Usually when it rains, my socks get soaked from all the puddles on the roads."
But sopping feet will not be a problem for visitors over the coming weeks as the rainy season continues - the park is equipped with a highly sophisticated drainage system that measures up to that of developed countries, said organizers.
"It can drain up to 60 cubic meters of water per second, which is twice the normal standard used around the city," said Li Jianquan, the assistant chief engineer for Shanghai Urban Construction Design and Research Institute, the designer of the drainage system for the Expo Park.
Nearby residents are also benefiting from the new system, which collects rainwater at four stations and covers an area of 6.46 kilometers, slightly larger than that of the 5.28-square-kilometer park. Most of the surrounding residential compounds near the park were built in the 90s, without a proper drainage system.
Due to the uneven grounds, rainwater used to collect in puddles, making traversing through them a challenge for local residents, according to a man surnamed Huang who works for Bansongyuan Road Community Service Center, located near the Puxi side of the park.
"But the situation is much better this year," he said. "The rain washes away much faster now."
The drainage system additionally serves the environmentally conscious theme of the six-month event by reducing the amount of pollutants in the city, according to organizers.
Unlike traditional practices in the city, the rainwater collected inside the park is processed at a sewage plant before it flows directly into the Huangpu River, said Huang, a member of the designing team for the drainage system.
"Rainwater contains pollutants from the air, and this normally goes straight into the Huangpu River, without first being combed for pollutants, and thus adding to river pollution, but that doesn't happen with the water at the park."
Meanwhile, experts said that cleaner water entering the river will help improve the overall quality of water in the Huangpu River, and consequently better nurture underground water resources.
