china, page-3

I don't entirely disagree with you Geoffo, however, my assessment is that the mobile treatment stations are probably being employed to tackle a certain category of polluted water, which is often caused excessive algae contamination, and so my feeling is that preventing the build up of algae is at least part of the objective of the mobile units.

There may have been a few clues relating to the purpose of the mobile pumping stations in the presentation from the company last month.

In the recent presentation announcement ('PWS Half Year Review Presentation', 23/02/2018), these mobile plants are first mentioned in the second bullet point of page four (under the heading 'China Water Treatment Business')

' Offices in four Chinese cities: now using a range of products and movable plants to treat highly polluted canal/rivers/lakes, including ''black odorous water''. Notice the quotation marks used on that last term.

A few pages on in the same announcement, on page eight, there is a picture of one of the a mobile treatment plants, under a caption stating 'PWS Material used in Mobile Treatment Plants to process Polluted Water from canals and rivers;'

On the following page, under the heading 'PWS Materials used in treating ''Black Odorous Water'', there are three pictures: the picture in the middle is of the same mobile treatment plant shown on the previous page. The strong suggestion seems to be that there is a link between the 'Black Odorous Water' and the mobile treatment plants.

The reason why quotation marks are always used around the term 'black odorous'  is because the term is not a descriptive one: rather, it appears to be designation used by the Chinese government  for specific type of polluted water body.

You find this term employed in Chinese Government documents on water pollution, as for example in this overview of the 'Ten Measures on Water', the plan by the Chinese Government to tackle water pollution that was initiated in 2015.

Note the second bullet point listed under the '2020' target:

• The levels of black and odorous waters shall be less than 10% in cities;

Again, the same term is also found in the second bullet point under the '2030' target:

• Black and odorous water bodies in urban built-up areas are generally eliminated;

The term was also used in a release on the website of the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection last year, which stated that 2,082 black and odorous water bodies had been identified in 224 cities across China, and notes that: ... In the next step, we will make better use of market mechanisms while tightening the government regulation, in order to make sure both temporary and permanent solutions are available to treat black and odorous waters, and get the problems solved once and for all.

My understanding is that one of the main causes of the 'black odorous' condition in water bodies is algae: when you get massive accumulation and death of algae, it results in a stinking black water agglomerate.

So,  it looks like the Chinese government have decided that Phoslock is a key tool in treating those water bodies across China that fall under the 'black odorous' designation. The use of Phoslock would prevent the build up of algae, and so it appears as if it is part of the 'permanent solution' to the 'black odorous' water problem.

Presumably, those mobile stations will be being shunted around China until the government there has met their target to eliminate all the 'black odorous' water in urban areas around China, as per the target under the 'Ten Measures' plan.