The world's highest water-treatment plant will begin operating officially later this month to mark the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Qamdo, the government of Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, announced Friday.

The treatment plant will serve the 640,000 people of Qamdo and is the first modern water-treatment plant in Tibet, which has a population of 2.8 million.

A high mountain valley region on the banks of the Lancang, Jinsha and Nujiang rivers, Qamdo was of strategic importance in the environmental protection of Tibet, said a prefectural government official.

An exact date for the official opening had yet to be decided, he said.

Qamdo was the first part of Tibet to be liberated, when the People's Liberation Army raised the national flag in Qamdo on Oct. 19, 1950, creating conditions for the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951.

China CMIIC Engineering & Construction Corp. started building the plant four years ago at a cost of 99.74 million yuan (US$14.95 million), funded by China and Germany.

Since 2008, when the plant was completed and put into trial operation, it has treated 4.58 million cubic meters of sewage water and 1,575 tonnes of sludge with a daily sewage treating capacity of 7,000 tonnes.

"We bought equipment from Germany, France and Finland. The power of the engines is somewhat effected by the high altitude, but the equipment is still operating quite well," said Yang Miyou, manager of the plant.

"Before the trial operation, sewage water was discharged directly into the rivers," Yang said. "The plant will undoubtedly improve the natural environment and the quality of life in this area."

Tibet regional government has invested about 1.03 billion yuan in energy efficient and emissions cutting projects in the last four years. The Chinese central government has spent 512.48 million yuan in equipping 187,273 Tibetan households with methane gas supplies.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2010)