A manhole cover at the Renshu village in Yixing, a county-level city governed by Wuxi [Photo provided to China Daily]

He noted that the total length of underground pipelines in the village is 5,820 meters, with an investment of 4.13 million yuan.

It is expected that all the villages in Yixing will be included in the sewage pipeline network in the next two years.

The program was part of the efforts of the Wuxi government to improve the water quality of Taihu Lake.

In the summer of 2007, large quantities of blue-green algae contaminated the local water supply for several days, affecting more than 1.5 million residents. In response, a number of programs were launched.

Since then, the restoration of rivers and lakes including the cleaning of the riverbed silt has steadily advanced.