Its been some time since I last posted something, there isn't a lot derelict sites left in Ipswich to explore, so for this one I had to go a little further away from the town's boundary (the other side of the World in this case), but it was worth the 14 hours on a plane and several awful in-flight meals.
Waste water treatment plants and other such sites have always been a fascination of mine, and it was fortunate during my time in China I came across the opportunity to visit a sewage treatment plant in North Xi'An with a few Chinese friends - it seems Urban Exploration has yet to take off in China, either because the Chinese government is building more factories rather than closing them, or maybe its the fear of not knowing the strict consequences of being caught by security.
The site visit was taken back in December 2013 (sorry for the late post) but it slipped my mind to upload the pictures due to other things and an attempt to enter a derelict heating powerstation elsewhere in Shaanxi Province, only to be put off by a massive security guard dog which looked as though it had rabies
but the security guard was polite enough (despite him mistaking me for a German, and struggling to understand his strong local accent).
Xi'An has about four WWTPs and the one I visited had recently been upgraded, so the apparatus on show was in working order. Anyway, on with the pictures:
The entrance building was filled with information about the site and its processing capacity (sorry, no translation)
A standard site in most government buildings, outlining China's progress in environmental protection... Better not comment too much on this issue, but they are trying their best
The weather was pretty cold and miserable, which made me feel like I was back in the UK. Chinese really have an obsession of living in apartments, and they are sprouting out all over Shaanxi Province.
Primary Stage
Those who are familiar with WWTPs know that there are three main processes - Primary sediment removal, Secondary biological removal, and Tertiary chemical purification. This site marked the primary process, which was pretty smelly but gave the opportunity to see what Chinese people throw down the drain... It was unbelievable the amount of rubbish removed
The site had some relatively impressive machines working at full capacity. The above machine pumps the water up a tower and squeezes out any remaining debris, until the remaining water is flushed out into a settling tank (below)
The view from the pumping tower was impressive but poor weather doesn't help to compliment the pure size of the site
The sound of constant humming and flushing water was occasionally interrupted by the passing of massive trucks carrying away the remaining debris. The smell from the debris-depositing building was the strongest from the whole site - we were literally gasping for air
Secondary Stage
This is where the biology and chemistry comes into play, but I won't bore you with that. The cold weather and the mist, along with the heat from the waste water, caused an impressive cloud of steam to surround the site
Tertiary Stage
Despite my companion almost dropping his phone into the settling tank, we proceeded to the final stage, where the water is purified using infra-red (interesting fact - it seems the Chinese government doesn't encourage chlorination in case it poisons people)
And finally, clean enough to go back into the river, and just in time to eat some local dishes for lunch!
Apologies for this post being picture-heavy, but its something a little different, thanks for viewing (or should I say: 同志们，谢谢您们看看我污水处理厂的照片)
Waste water treatment plants and other such sites have always been a fascination of mine, and it was fortunate during my time in China I came across the opportunity to visit a sewage treatment plant in North Xi'An with a few Chinese friends - it seems Urban Exploration has yet to take off in China, either because the Chinese government is building more factories rather than closing them, or maybe its the fear of not knowing the strict consequences of being caught by security.
The site visit was taken back in December 2013 (sorry for the late post) but it slipped my mind to upload the pictures due to other things and an attempt to enter a derelict heating powerstation elsewhere in Shaanxi Province, only to be put off by a massive security guard dog which looked as though it had rabies
but the security guard was polite enough (despite him mistaking me for a German, and struggling to understand his strong local accent).Xi'An has about four WWTPs and the one I visited had recently been upgraded, so the apparatus on show was in working order. Anyway, on with the pictures:
The entrance building was filled with information about the site and its processing capacity (sorry, no translation)
A standard site in most government buildings, outlining China's progress in environmental protection... Better not comment too much on this issue, but they are trying their best
The weather was pretty cold and miserable, which made me feel like I was back in the UK. Chinese really have an obsession of living in apartments, and they are sprouting out all over Shaanxi Province.
Primary Stage
Those who are familiar with WWTPs know that there are three main processes - Primary sediment removal, Secondary biological removal, and Tertiary chemical purification. This site marked the primary process, which was pretty smelly but gave the opportunity to see what Chinese people throw down the drain... It was unbelievable the amount of rubbish removed
The site had some relatively impressive machines working at full capacity. The above machine pumps the water up a tower and squeezes out any remaining debris, until the remaining water is flushed out into a settling tank (below)
The view from the pumping tower was impressive but poor weather doesn't help to compliment the pure size of the site
The sound of constant humming and flushing water was occasionally interrupted by the passing of massive trucks carrying away the remaining debris. The smell from the debris-depositing building was the strongest from the whole site - we were literally gasping for air
Secondary Stage
This is where the biology and chemistry comes into play, but I won't bore you with that. The cold weather and the mist, along with the heat from the waste water, caused an impressive cloud of steam to surround the site
Tertiary Stage
Despite my companion almost dropping his phone into the settling tank, we proceeded to the final stage, where the water is purified using infra-red (interesting fact - it seems the Chinese government doesn't encourage chlorination in case it poisons people)
And finally, clean enough to go back into the river, and just in time to eat some local dishes for lunch!
Apologies for this post being picture-heavy, but its something a little different, thanks for viewing (or should I say: 同志们，谢谢您们看看我污水处理厂的照片)
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