A village in Shengshan town, Shengsi county, Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province [Photo/IC] 

Residents of Shengshan town in Shengsi county, Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, have witnessed the town's transformation from a place with a severe drinking shortage to having fresh drinking water taken from the sea over the past two decades, thanks to the introduction of water desalination technology. 

Shengshan used to suffer severe water shortages every year, partly due to its mountainous terrain that did not accumulate rain water well. 

Although there are five small reservoirs on the island, it could barely meet the demands for the town’s approximately 10,000 residents, plus the 100,000 fishermen who descend from all over the country in winter because of its status as a fishing hub.

"We did suffer a lot previously with our drinking water problem," said Liu Ahua, former Party chief of the town's Jiefang village, recalling the day when he stayed in an almost-dry well for a whole night to collect drops leaking from rock cracks.

The situation started to change on Nov 6, 1997, when the nation's first Reverse Osmosis Seawater Desalination Station was built in Shengshan, which could collect 500 metric tons of fresh water from the sea. 

The capacity has now increased to 1,000 tons, supplying 70 percent of the daily fresh water on the island. In addition, the 2,000-ton-capacity project was put into trial operation in late June. 

"With the increasingly advanced technologies, the water quality has improved and the production costs have been cut from 12 yuan ($1.74) to 3.8 yuan per ton," said Zhou Jinmiao, director of the station. 

With the success of the Shengshan project, sea water desalination technology was applied and developed in other places of the city and beyond.

Zhoushan has so far established 27 such projects covering 16 of its islands, with the total capacity reaching 137,000 tons, 10 percent of the nation's total. The city has become a national demonstration zone for the sea water desalination industry.

China's coastal regions such as Zhejiang, Liaoning, Guangdong, and Hainan provinces have also developed rapidly in this field.

The technology has gone global, with the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, providing fresh drinking water for more than ten countries involved in the initiative.