Vegetables, rice, forests are "smeared" and residents have to wear N95 at home
The Taijiang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Guizhou, once notified by the Central Environmental Protection Supervision Group, has seen an increase in air pollution after three years of rectification.
Our reporter Jiang Cheng and Zhang Dianbiao
Taijiang County Economic Development Zone Industrial Park taken by drone.
Photo by our reporter Jiang Cheng
Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters recently visited the Economic Development Zone of Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, and found that several local lead-acid batteries and recycled lead enterprises are suspected of emitting sulfur dioxide and other pollutants, causing the production and life of surrounding villagers to be affected. Large areas of cedar, loquat, orange and other trees withered and died. Vegetables and grains decayed to reduce production or even no harvest.
The interviewees called for strengthening the compliance emission of production enterprises in the Economic Development Zone, and at the same time conducting a detailed environmental impact assessment to assess and appraise the damage caused.
Fruits and vegetables around the park are dead, food production is reduced, and the air is pungent, so you need to wear N95 masks
The reporter visited the Taijiang County Economic Development Zone Industrial Park and found that the roar of machinery production was endless, and a dozen chimneys continuously emitted white mist.
In Houshao Village, Geyi Town, Taijiang County, about one kilometer away from the industrial park, the reporter saw that in the mountains and forests on both sides of the road, cedar trees were gradually withering, and nearly one-third of the trees had dried up and died. Some of the vegetables are yellow or whitish, and the air is filled with a pungent smell.
"The pollution is heavy, and the air is smelly." In a farmer’s house, the reporter saw Cai Xiuhua, a villager who was cleaning the house. She wore a blackened KN95 mask and said, "Ordinary masks can’t hold them. Some villagers Wear this mask at home to make it tighter."
The Taijiang Economic Development Zone in Qiandongnan Prefecture is a provincial development zone approved by the Guizhou Provincial People’s Government in January 2012. It has a planned area of 43.87 square kilometers and governs two townships, Taipan and Geyi. It is located in Taijiang, Shibing and Huangping. , Kaili three counties and one city junction.
At present, the park has established 50 production and operation enterprises of various types, 30 production enterprises, of which 10 are above-scale industrial enterprises and 20 are under construction.
According to the data, Taijiang Economic Development Zone is mainly dominated by the lead-acid battery industry and recycled lead enterprises, forming an upstream and downstream industrial cluster led by the power supply industry.
From January to September 2020, Taijiang Economic Development Zone will complete a total industrial output value of 2.978 billion yuan and tax revenue of 157 million yuan.
Cai Xiuhua said that at two or three o'clock in the afternoon every day when the pollutant discharge from factories in Taijiang County's Economic Development Zone is the most concentrated, more than a dozen chimneys continuously emit heavy smoke. In rainy weather, the smoke will not dissipate.
The terrain of Houshao Village is lower than that of the industrial park, and a strong smell can be felt towards the village.
"The air smells bad, and after a long period of time you will have trouble breathing." She said.
Cai Xiuhua told reporters that in the past two years, the cabbage in her vegetable plot has always been infected for no reason, and all kinds of pesticides have been tried to no avail. The cabbage planted has always blistered and dried up before it reaches the filling stage. Vegetables such as broad beans cannot even grow.
Following Cai Xiuhua, the reporter found that many farmers’ vegetable plots in Houshao Village had the same problem. The cabbage leaves in the fields were white, as if they had been burned by fire, and the rape leaves were yellow and some of them rotted.
Cai Xiuhua's family has more than one acre of paddy fields, and this year's harvest has been reduced by one third.
"Rice does not grow tall, and some gradually wither during the growth process," she said.
Not only vegetables and rice, but fruit trees in Houshao Village are also affected.
The reporter saw in a loquat forest that a lot of loquat leaves were falling, and some of the flowering parts of the treetops were dry and black.
"In the past few years, planting loquat was the main source of income. After the industrial park was opened, our loquat output has been decreasing year by year, and the loquat fruits are getting smaller and smaller, and some fruits even fall when they grow up." Villager Yang Shuxian Said, "I didn't expect that some loquat trees will not even bloom this year." Yang Shuxian said frankly that it is no longer realistic to stay in the village to develop industries because of the high pollution. Only going out for work is the only way out.
The park was notified by the Central Environmental Protection Inspection Team due to pollution problems
As early as 2017, the first round of central environmental protection inspectors pointed out: Guizhou Province "industrial park pollution prevention facilities are not supporting" and "the level of pollution prevention of industrial enterprises in the province needs to be improved".
Guizhou Province has a clear rectification plan. Before December 31, 2017, ensure that the sewage discharged from economic and technological development zones, high-tech industrial development zones, and industrial parks that rely on urban sewage treatment plants to treat wastewater can only be connected to urban sewage treatment plants for treatment after they meet relevant requirements. Before June 30, 2018, construct and improve the supporting pipe network of the park that has built centralized sewage treatment facilities to ensure that the park’s wastewater is collected; strengthen law enforcement and supervision, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as abnormal operation of facilities, illegal discharge, and excessive discharge of pollutants .
In November 2018, the Central Fifth Ecological Environmental Protection Supervision Team carried out the "Looking Back" in Taijiang County and found that the Taijiang Economic Development Zone in Qiandongnan Prefecture was ineffective in rectification, perfunctory response, and chaotic enterprise management and sewage treatment facilities in the park. It has its appearance and cannot play its role effectively, and the hidden dangers of heavy metal pollution are prominent.
Among them, there are enterprises in the Taijiang Economic Development Zone Park that have abnormal operation of pollution control facilities, extensive environmental management in the plant area, inadequate anti-seepage measures, lead-acid waste slag clogging the diversion ditch in the plant area, and dripping and leakage of the wastewater treatment system outside the plant area. Forest trees died on a large scale.
Although the company removed the contaminated forest and replanted trees, it did not strengthen the operation and management of pollution control facilities in a timely manner, nor did it improve anti-seepage measures.
The inspector also found that there are enterprises in the Taijiang Economic Development Zone that have rain and sewage diversion and sewage diversion not in place, the wastewater treatment system is chaotic, and the clear water collection tank stores a large amount of industrial wastewater; hazardous waste storage sites are not set up in accordance with the regulations, and hazardous waste and Other sundries are piled up together, and hazardous waste management is chaotic. As a recycled lead manufacturer, the exhaust gas online monitoring system cannot monitor its characteristic pollution factor-lead and its compounds, and cannot monitor the state of lead-containing dust entering the external environment, which is useless.
In addition, none of the 9 lead-acid batteries and recycled lead companies carried out mandatory clean production audits in accordance with regulations, and the park’s potential environmental risks were outstanding.
Yang Hong, director of the Taijiang Branch of the Qiandong Prefecture Ecological Environment Bureau, introduced that Taijiang County immediately carried out dispatching and research in response to the irregularities in enterprise management discovered in Taijiang County when the Central Fifth Ecological Environmental Protection Supervisory Group carried out "Looking Back". , Invited relevant experts to compile the "One Enterprise One Policy Rectification Plan" and fully implement the rectification measures within the two-year rectification period. After several rounds of expert group review and acceptance, the problem has been basically resolved; Jiang County invested more than 50 million yuan to build a complete sewage treatment plant, which can treat 1,000 tons of industrial wastewater every day.
After more than three years, reporters visited the local area and found that the soil and water pollution problems reported by the masses are gradually weakening, but the phenomenon of suspected air pollution is increasing.
Yang Youmin, a villager in Houshao Village, told reporters that the gradual dying of trees, vegetables, and food crops has taken place in the past two years.
"About two years ago, fruit trees died. Individual villagers reported the situation to the village party branch and village committee, but the problem was not resolved." Yang Youmin said, "No relevant personnel have ever been to the village to verify the villagers' losses. ."
"As a supervisory agency, it cannot ensure that companies do not discharge pollutants all the time."
Chen Fei, deputy director of the Taijiang County Economic Development Zone Management Committee, said that in recent years, villagers around the industrial park have reported air pollution problems, but the Economic Development Zone Management Committee has conducted several inspections and rectifications based on clues reported by the masses. Supervise and urge enterprises to improve their technological level and strengthen environmental protection supervision. At present, the pollutant emissions of all enterprises in the park are up to standard.
The interviewed experts preliminarily judged that the gradual death of cedar, fruit trees, and vegetables in the surrounding villages of Taijiang Economic Development Zone is in line with the characteristics of sulfur dioxide pollution, or is related to the discharge of heavy industries such as lead-acid batteries and recycled lead smelting and recycling in the local industrial park, but the specific reasons need to be scientific Land for identification.
According to Zhang Li, the director of the Safety and Environmental Protection Department of Guizhou Dingxin Metallurgical Technology Co., Ltd. in the park, the main producers of sulfur dioxide in the park are recycled lead enterprises. The recycled lead uses recycled waste batteries as raw materials for production, and contains lead sulfate, lead sulfide and other substances. Sulfur dioxide is easily produced in the process. Guizhou Dingxin follows standard procedures in all production links. In particular, the sulfur dioxide treatment has undergone a three-step desulfurization technology. The annual sulfur dioxide emissions are within 80mg/Nm3, which is lower than the national emission standards.
Yang Hong said that as the environmental supervision unit of the production enterprises in the economic development zone, the Taijiang County Ecological Environment Bureau only monitors the overall environment of the economic development zone once a year. The monitoring in 2020 is entrusting a third-party qualified organization to conduct the monitoring results. Not out, but from the monitoring results in 2018 and 2019, the overall environment of the economic development zone, including soil, water quality, and atmosphere, all meet the standards.
Yang Hong introduced that although the annual supervisory monitoring of the Taijiang County Ecological Environment Bureau takes the form of non-greeting, unannounced visits and spot checks, each period of monitoring takes 3 days, but as a supervisory agency, it cannot ensure that the company is always No sewage.
Some farmers interviewed called for the establishment of an expert group to conduct a comprehensive environmental impact assessment on the local atmosphere, surface water, groundwater, soil, sound, solid waste, etc., on this basis, to evaluate and compensate farmers for their losses.
Chen Fei said that based on the clues of air pollution problems reported by the masses in recent years, the Taijiang Economic Development Zone Management Committee will organize an expert group to conduct a scientific assessment. If it is determined that the local fruits and vegetables are dead and other phenomena are related to the pollution of enterprises in the Economic Development Zone, farmers will be reasonably identified. Loss, protect the rights and interests of farmers.
(At the request of the interviewee, the villagers in the text are all pseudonyms)