For the first time, my country has conducted a basin-wide investigation on the discharge outlets of the Yellow River
The Yellow River Pollution Prevention and Control Will Form "One Account" and "One Picture"
Core reading
The core of the three-level investigation mode is to connect the water and the shore from the perspective of "stand in the water and see the shore", which solves the long-standing problems of overlapping responsibilities, water management in Kowloon, and multi-head co-governance. It is the accurate management of the water environment in the river basin. The key trick.
□ Our reporter Yan Jianrong
Following the completion of the investigation of the Yangtze River and the Bohai Sea's sewage outfalls, Zhai Qing, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, recently announced that starting from March this year, the Yellow River Basin's sewage outfall inspection and remediation campaign was officially launched.
According to experts from the Yellow River Basin Bureau, this is the first time that my country has conducted the highest-precision ecological and environmental physical examination on the Yellow River in the whole basin.
The relevant person in charge of the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment revealed that it plans to complete the investigation of the entire Yellow River basin in two years, and basically complete the sewage outfall remediation by the end of 2025, and completely realize the "one account" and "one picture" of the sewage outfalls of the entire Yellow River basin. .
The person in charge said that the investigation involved 54 cities (prefectures and leagues) in 9 provinces (regions) including Qinghai.
Remediation of sewage outfalls into rivers and seas has been included in this year's government work report as a key task for ecological and environmental protection.
This fully illustrates the importance of this work.
At present, the pilot inspection of the sewage outfalls of the Yellow River Basin has been completed, and the number of sewage outfalls in the pilot areas is basically clear.
Remarkable results of investigation in pilot areas
Starting in May 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has carried out pilot inspections of sewage outfalls in the Gansu section of the main stream of the Yellow River, the Huangshui River and the Fenhe River. The pilot projects involve Xining City, Haibei Prefecture, and Haidong City in Qinghai Province; Gansu Province; Provinces Lanzhou City, Linxia Prefecture, Baiyin City; Shanxi Province, Taiyuan City, Xinzhou City, Luliang City, Jinzhong City, Linfen City, Yuncheng City and other 3 provinces and 12 cities (prefectures) 4326 kilometers to investigate the coastline and 1 kilometers of buffer on both sides of the river bank District, covering an area of about 5647 square kilometers.
According to Song Huayong, a second-level investigator of the Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the investigation started from the integrity of the basin and the ecosystem, using drone aerial remote sensing investigation, manual walking investigation, and expert quality control audit "three-level investigation". The pilot area has achieved full coverage of the remote sensing survey of all the shorelines by drones, and formed 300,000 remote sensing images with an image resolution of 0.1 meters. The number of sewage outfalls into the river in a typical area was basically found, and a unified sewage outfall account was established. It also explored the formation of a "water-land-air" integrated investigation model, which has accumulated useful experience for advancing the investigation of the entire Yellow River Basin.
Chen Yao, an expert from the South China Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment who participated in the investigation, told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that on the basis of the “three-level investigation”, “six rounds of quality control” were implemented.
"For example, 39 batches of drone images from the aerial survey of 12 pilot cities including Xining have been reviewed, and the drone orthophotos of some cities have been reviewed 4 times, ensuring that all urban drones have orthophotos. The actual accuracy is less than 0.1 meters, which can be seen by a hole as large as a palm." Chen Yao said that in the end, the "area to be investigated" aerial survey has no dead angles, and the images of drones from various places can be seamlessly stitched to form a drone Image map.
According to Song Huayong, the purpose of all-round quality control is to get a solid understanding of the bottom line, establish a ledger, and understand who is discharging sewage to the Yellow River, where, what is being discharged, and how much is being discharged, so as to be targeted. , Precise governance.
"In order to ensure that the results can withstand the inspection, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment organized 56 technical audits by experts in collaboration with various localities, and some areas passed the audits 3 times." Song Huayong revealed that in the on-site investigation, the organization adopted a "comprehensive and no dead ends" organization method. In response to the typical problems found in the background audit, we have successively pushed out more than 50 cases of "wrong judgment" and "missed judgment" of discharge outlets, and finally completed the inspection of the discharge outlets of the Yellow River Basin, forming a unified and standardized list of discharge outlets.
Participants in the pilot investigation told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that through this scientific investigation, work efficiency and quality have been greatly improved, and a digital base map of the discharge outlets of the Yellow River Basin has been formed, which is conducive to continuous strengthening of daily supervision and tracking and dispatching.
At the same time, the pilot investigation and remediation of the sewage outfalls of the Yellow River led to the pollution control of the entire river basin.
According to relevant experts, in 2020, the water quality of the Yellow River Basin will be improved from mild pollution at the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan period to good, and all sections with inferior grade V will be eliminated. Among them, 100% of the excellent sections of the main stream I-III, the main tributary I— The proportion of Type III sections has also reached more than 80%, and the ecological environmental protection of the Yellow River Basin has achieved remarkable results.
The pollution base of the Yellow River Basin needs to be clarified
Although the water quality of the Yellow River Basin has improved from lightly polluted to good from 2016 to 2020, and the inferior Class V sections have decreased by 13.9% compared with 2016, the ecological environment management task of the entire basin is still arduous.
According to Qiao Fei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, there are still problems in the Yellow River basin, such as lack of water resources, unbalanced improvement of the water environment, frequent damage to the water ecology, and prominent environmental risks.
Water resources, water ecology, and water environment problems in the Yellow River Basin are intertwined, and the ecological environment is sensitive and fragile.
The structural layout in the basin is still heavy. There are many enterprises in coal mining, coal chemical industry, iron and steel, non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing. Coal chemical enterprises account for about 80% of the country, and some enterprises have high pollutant emissions.
In some areas, the problem of direct and indiscriminate discharge of sewage is prominent. In some built-up areas, urban-rural junctions, and rural areas, the environmental infrastructure is not complete, rain and sewage diversion is not in place, pipe network overflow and leakage, domestic sewage and breeding wastewater, and rain and flood are mixed Mixed platoon, the task of environmental governance is very arduous.
At the same time, the sewage outlets into the Yellow River cover a wide range of areas, and are closely related to the construction of pipe networks, sewage treatment plants and water resources utilization in various places. A large number of problems have accumulated over the past few decades. The bottom of the drainage basin and the causes of the problems need to be clarified.
Qiao Fei said that positive progress has been made in the ecological and environmental protection of the Yellow River Basin, but some traditional pollution control models also need to be continuously improved and upgraded to meet the needs of the Yellow River Basin's water resources, water environment, and water ecology.
In his view, to solve this problem, we must take the path of precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and pollution control in accordance with the law.
The three-level investigation mode with "inspection, measurement, tracing, and treatment" as the core lays the foundation for precise, scientific, and legal pollution control, and is the "bull nose" of the Yellow River pollution prevention and control.
"From the perspective of local conditions, the places where the Yellow River's sewage outlet problems are prominent are often places with severe water environment conditions, and also places where there are shortcomings in pollution control and water resources and water ecological protection on the shore. The cause is related to the high water resource utilization rate of the Yellow River Basin. , Water ecology is sensitive and fragile, and water environment infrastructure is not perfect.” Song Huayong said that through the small incision of the sewage outlet, the pollution discharge problem on the shore can be effectively identified, so as to promote the ecological management of the Yellow River Basin more accurately and efficiently.
Qiao Fei said that the core of the three-level investigation mode is to connect the water and the shore from the perspective of "standing in the water and looking at the shore". It solves the long-standing problems of overlapping responsibilities, water governance in Kowloon, and multiple governance. It is the river basin. The key to precise management of the water environment.
A unified list of sewage outlets will be formed
The Yellow River pollution appears to be in the water, the problem lies in the basin, and the root lies on the shore.
This is where the Ministry of Ecology and Environment initiated the investigation of the discharge outlets of the Yellow River.
Zhai Qing pointed out that the sewage outlet of the river is the key node and the last "gate" connecting the water and the shore. The investigation and remediation of the sewage outlet of the river is an important measure to promote pollution control from the source and improve the water ecological environment.
"At the just-concluded National Two Sessions, the regulation of sewage outfalls into the river and the sea was included in the government work report as the key work of this year's ecological environment protection, which fully demonstrated the importance and urgency of this work." Zhai Qing said.
According to Song Huayong, from the perspective of the pilot situation, the Yellow River Basin is significantly different from the Yangtze River Basin and the Bohai Sea area where the sewage outfall inspection and remediation was carried out in the early stage. The upstream and downstream areas are very different, the ecological environment is more fragile, and the inspection and remediation are more difficult.
More than 12,000 sewage outlets were detected in the pilot area, which are widely distributed in villages along the river, industrial parks, farmland planting areas, and livestock and poultry breeding areas. A large number of sewage outlets simultaneously undertake domestic sewage, corporate wastewater, rain and flood discharge.
“We sampled and monitored 460 sewage outlets, and about 40% of the water quality exceeded the standard.” Song Huayong said that problems such as insufficient capacity of sewage treatment facilities, uneven distribution, and imperfect supporting pipe networks are more common. Sewage and part of industrial wastewater are directly discharged into the river through ditches and pipelines.
At the same time, most of the sewage outlets in the Yellow River Basin have the characteristics of seasonal and intermittent drainage. In heavy rain, rainwater often flushes pollutants into the river course, causing river water quality to rebound.
There are also some agricultural irrigation districts where "large drainage" exists, and non-point source pollution is prominent.
"This year's investigation will still adhere to the work model of'inspection, testing, tracing, and remediation'." Song Huayong said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment organized the investigation to help localities find out the number of sewage outlets. Follow-up monitoring, traceability, and remediation are all required. Local implementation.
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment stated that this work will be regarded as a key task in the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and will continue to promote and strive to achieve practical results.
In the next few years, on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of the number of sewage outlets, we will list the bills, implement classified naming, establish identification cards and other standardized management, and implement rectification and sales of various issues involved. If the problems are not resolved, we will not let go.
Regarding the problems found in the investigation, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment requires that all provinces (regions) departments coordinate and supervise the progress of various regions in a timely manner, review and check the remediation plan, establish a system of acceptance and sales, and complete one and one sales.
At the same time, it is necessary to formulate a "one mouth, one policy" rectification plan based on actual conditions and local conditions.
For illegal sewage discharges such as illicit discharge and random discharge, reforms shall be implemented; for those that require pipe network construction and sewage plant upgrading and capacity expansion, start from the source, speed up filling the shortcomings of infrastructure, and cannot implement a “one size fits all” approach.
The relevant person in charge of the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment stated that the scope of this year’s investigation was determined to be the main stream of the Yellow River (from the source of the Qinghai River to the mouth of Dongying, Shandong) and important tributaries such as the Wei River, Fen River, and Huangshui River, involving Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, 54 cities (prefectures, leagues) in 9 provinces (autonomous regions) of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and Shandong, covering an area with a total length of 19,000 kilometers and 1 kilometers on both sides of the river bank.
“In 2021, the investigation will be completed in parts of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River (5 provinces and autonomous regions in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia), and the investigation will be completed in 9 provinces (regions) in the whole basin before the end of 2022.” The person in charge said that the establishment was established through the investigation. "One picture" and "one account" for the sewage outfalls of the whole river basin, and continue to promote monitoring, traceability, and remediation.
The relevant person in charge of the Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said that compared with the investigations of the Yangtze River and the Bohai Sea, the Yellow River investigation and remediation special action will put more effort and energy into the remediation.