The central government says it is going to spend 400 billion yuan to recycle waste water throughout this country in the coming 5 years.
That represents a 14 percent increase from the last 5-year plan.
Most of that money is going to go toward building pipes and plants.
The overall goal is to have 85 percent of the country's urban sewage treated by 2015. That figure is about 70 percent now in the cities.
However, only 7 percent of the new funding will go to sludge treatment.
That's one-tenth of the international standard.
Dr. Chen Tongbin is with the International Water Association's Sludge Management Committee.
"From what we know, the government wants to put more money in this area. 20 to 30 billion yuan is not unaffordable compare to the amount of money put into sewage treatment. However, the technology of facility-building is not mature enough."
Dr. Chen says after the facilities are in place, another area that will need continued investment is operational maintenance.
Internationally, sludge treatment fees are collected together with people's water fees.
But in some provinces here in China, people's water bills don't include sewage treatment fees, let alone a sludge treatment fee.
Currently around 80 percent of sludge here in China is dumped without proper treatment.
But, as water industry analyst Xiao Qiong points out, sludge can be recovered and reused.
"The sludge can be used to make fertilizer, cement. It can also be fermented to collect methane."
There are several projects currently underway in the country that turn sludge into fertilizer and methane.
However, a number of those projects didn't turn out to be very successful.
Dr. Chen Tongbin says the government needs to be more selective in the projects it chooses to fund.
"If you know something is good, you need to make an effort to support it."
Dr. Chen says only when government agencies start choosing to support projects that work will sludge treatment become a more common reality.
For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.
