GUANGDONG will raise the sewage treatment fee for most urban areas by the end of next year, the province's legislature was told earlier this week.

The government is drafting a new regulation to charge a minimum fee on sewage discharge. The minimum fee will be higher than most sewage discharge fees now charged in Guangdong.

According to the draft, the government will charge a minimum of 0.7 yuan (US$0.08) for each cubic meter of sewage discharged from the urban areas of the Pearl River Delta, and at least 0.5 yuan for each cubic meter of sewage discharged from other urban areas.

For the areas that have not started charging sewage fees, the minimum fee will be 0.3 yuan per cubic meter. One city and 45 counties have not levied sewage fees.

Guangdong charges much less sewage fees than the Yangtze River Delta. While the Yangtze River Delta charges 0.8 to one yuan for every cubic meter of sewage, most Guangdong cities charge only 0.5 yuan per cubic meter, or even less. Meizhou City charges only 0.1 yuan per cubic meter.

Shenzhen charges 1.05 yuan per cubic meter of sewage, the most expensive in Guangdong.

Guangzhou charges 0.7 yuan for each cubic meter of sewage, but authorities say the fee will "definitely" be raised. No timetable has been released.

In another development, a 12.54-million-yuan monitoring system was put into use at four major sewage treatment factories in Guangzhou on Tuesday. The system will monitor the amount and quality of water at the factories and send the data to the government.

Editor: Wing