Nature-Based Symbiotic Solution to Transform Conventional Gray Infrastructure into green

Single-objective counter flooding infrastructure has turned hundreds of rivers into concrete channels around the world, losing ecological resilience and visual appeal. Globally, 85% of sewage is untreated, polluting rivers and oceans. While for developing countries, it is affordable to primarily treat domestic sewage to remove odor, heavy metal and harmful pathogenic bacteria, but to remove the nutrients like nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) needs deep treatment and is extremely energy intensive and costly (Energy consumption for deep sewage treatment is 3% in the developed countries). The rich nutrients are fertilizers for plants that are underused in the urban area but wrongly treated as pollutants. Liyumen Park demonstrates a nature based solution that addresses these issues in a symbiotic way.

Save 70% of Energy Consumption and Recycle 100% of Primary Treated Wastewater Effluent

Based on previous experiments, 10km2 of constructed wetland can cleanse 0.8km3 of primary treated wastewater from grade V to III. The former contains rich nutrients that need an additional 250% of energy to be removed and double the cost in order to meet the standard of eco-friendly grade-III water. Liyumen Waterway contains 56km2 of living wall and wetland and can cleanse 5.1km3 of primary treated wastewater daily. When the 280km2 Blue Circle plan is implemented, 25.5 km3 of grade-V water can be cleansed that is 12% of the wastewater treatment plant's 200 km3 effluent. If all the concrete drains in the city are transformed into green, all Grade-V effluent from the plant can be cleansed to grade III, saving 70% energy, about 2% of the total energy consumed by the whole urban district.

Create A Pleasant Oasis for 700,000 People in Urban Center

Qianhai District as Zhenzhen's new CBD, 15km2 in size, is expected to accommodate over 700,000 people working and living daily. With very high occupation density, greenscape is in high demand. Transforming the gray infrastructure into green will create a network of lush and cool oases on the doorstep of office buildings, and provide a pleasant escape for the local workforce to lunch outside and have recreation activities day and night. The contemporarily designed ecologies bring nature back to the city of concrete, steel and glass, mitigate the harsh tropical climate, make the city more livable and beautiful, and will bring more vitality to the otherwise boring urban landscape.

Measures taken to reduce CO2 emissions

The designed lush glen, wetland and vegetation will reduce carbon emissions by 2,491t per year: Cooling effect in the cool glen is equivalent to the power of about 145 domestic air conditioners, which can save about 3,840KWH of electricity per day, to reduce carbon emissions by 724t per year (Shenzhen use air-conditioning for 8 months per year). The constructed wetland could cleanse about 5.1km3 of pretreatment wastewater per day, which save energy consumption of sewage treatment plants by at least 5,000KWH, and reduce carbon emissions by 1,500t annually. Rehabilitated vegetation will reduce carbon emissions by at least 267t per year.

The reuse of concrete materials for ecological planter alone can reduce 735t of stone consumption and reduce carbon emissions by 78t.