Our reporter followed the central ecological and environmental protection inspection team to sink the inspector to ask three questions about the sewage discharge from the lotus pond in Tongling City:


　　Why can the excess sewage be discharged into the Yangtze River beyond the "line of defense"?

　　Yesterday, the second round of the third batch of the central ecological environmental protection inspection team publicly notified a typical case of "working in the suburbs of Tongling City, Anhui Province to deal with excessive sewage from lotus ponds into the Yangtze River".

The inspection team believes that the party committee and government in the suburbs of Tongling City did not pay enough attention to the protection and restoration of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River. When dealing with the environmental pollution problem of the lotus pond, they adjusted their doors high, implemented poorly, and even made superficial comments, perfunctory response, and the work was lax and unrealistic, and did not effectively solve the problem. The discharge of excessive sewage into the Yangtze River has a negative impact on the ecological environment of the Yangtze River.

　　A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily learned from the local area that after the third central ecological and environmental protection inspection team pointed out the problem, the relevant departments of Tongling City and the suburbs have carried out emergency treatment and implemented traceability and pollution interception.

　　1 Why is the water body of the lotus pond suddenly polluted?

　　The lotus pond is located on the outskirts of Tongling City, about 1 km away from the main stream of the Yangtze River. In recent years, the water quality has maintained Grade IV to V.

Since October last year, the lotus pond has been found twice that the water body suddenly becomes black and smelly.

But until the inspection team sank and asked the inspector in April this year, the relevant persons in charge of the Tongling Suburban Government and the Suburban Ecological Environment Branch were unable to explain the true source of the sewage in the pond.

　　Many locals remember that although the water quality of the lotus pond in recent years is not very good, it has not had any major problems.

The first time an abnormal change occurred in the water body was at the end of October 2020.

According to the materials provided by the Qiaonan Office in the suburbs of Tongling City to the inspection team, on October 20, 2020, the inspectors of the Longmen Community Environmental Protection Network found abnormalities in the water body of the lotus pond, turbidity, and potential pollution hazards during daily inspections.

At that time, the treatment plan decided by the suburban government was to "spray medicine for pollution control" on the water body of the lotus pond.

　　However, in November and December after the drug was sprayed, the water quality of the lotus pond was not monitored.

"At that time, I just wanted to settle the sludge and clean up the water. Therefore, the environmental protection company did not set a goal for governance, and did not impose restrictions on this indicator." said Wen Zhong, director of the Suburban Ecological Environment Branch.

　　At the beginning of January 2021, the lotus pond water body once again appeared black and smelly.

During the inspection, the person in charge of the Longmen community found that the pond water was turbid and grayish white.

This time, the suburban government's treatment plan is that the environmental protection company built a temporary emergency treatment facility with a daily capacity of 10,000 cubic meters on the bank of the lotus pond.

　　Yu Maojin, deputy head of the suburbs of Tongling City, said that the temporary emergency treatment facility began to debug drainage in early March this year. However, as the water level dropped, the black and smelly sludge at the bottom of the pond turned up and the amount of mud in the water body increased, which greatly affected the treatment effect.

　　On April 20, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily followed the third central ecological and environmental protection inspection team to inspect the sinking of Tongling City. At this time, half a year has passed since the first black odor occurred in the lotus pond, but hundreds of thousands of cubic meters are still accumulated in the pond. Sewage.

　　2 Why did the line of defense not work?

　　The water body of the lotus pond is connected to the Yangtze River and is discharged into the Yangtze River through the Taohe Gate of Desheng Wharf. The Taohe Gate is open daily and closed when the water level of the Yangtze River is high to prevent the river from flowing back.

　　"Sewage entering the Yangtze River is troublesome." This is the consensus of officials at all levels, including the Tongling Suburban Government, Suburban Ecological Environment Branch, and Suburban Qiaonan Office after the black and smelly lotus ponds.

To this end, they laid out multiple "lines of defense" between the lotus pond and the Yangtze River.

The Qiaonan Office increased the height of the dam near the outlet gate of the southwest corner by stacking sandbags, and blocked the culverts of the Hehuatang Outlet Gate and Zhouchong Gate.

　　"It shouldn't flow into the Yangtze River." Faced with the inquiries of the inspection team, the deputy district head of the suburbs, the head of the suburban ecological environment branch, and the former director of the suburban Qiaonan Sub-district Office all responded in this way.

　　Desheng Wharf is the inspection area of ​​the Environmental Monitoring Brigade of the Suburban Ecological Environment Sub-bureau.

The staff of the monitoring brigade said that since the water quality of the lotus pond in October last year, no abnormal water quality has been found near the dock.

　　But the actual situation is that none of these "lines of defense" stop the discharge of excessive sewage into the Yangtze River.

In January and early March of this year, the inspectors discovered gray and foul-smelling sewage flowing into the river from Desheng Wharf three times during the early inspection of the Tongling section of the Yangtze River, forming obvious pollution zones on the river surface.

Through drone photography, physical exploration, and water quality monitoring, the inspection team found that it was the sewage from the lotus pond that flowed into the Yangtze River all the way through the heightened dam and the "blocked" culverts and gates.

　　After seeing the video and photos taken by the inspection team, the persons in charge at all levels in the suburbs admitted that after the pollution of the lotus pond, they had never inspected the vicinity of Desheng Wharf, and did not request water quality monitoring at the outlet of the Taohe sluice on the wharf.

　　3Who is dealing with the inspector perfunctorily?

　　When inquired by the inspection team, the person in charge of the suburban government and the suburban ecological environment branch mentioned that they attach importance to the management of the lotus pond and have visited the lotus pond many times to observe the progress and effects of the treatment.

However, what is different from what they call "importance" is that on the government information disclosure platform of the suburban people's government website, from November last year to the present, in the key work of the suburban people's government and the district ecological environment branch, the content of the management of the lotus pond " Sometimes and sometimes nothing".

　　According to public documents on the website, in November, December, and January 2021, the key work schedule of the Suburban Ecological Environment Sub-bureau did not include relevant content related to the management of lotus ponds.

　　But when the inspection team sank to Tongling, the paper version of the key work arrangements and completion status provided by the suburban people's government and the district ecological environment branch to the inspection team changed.

　　The Suburban Ecology and Environment Sub-bureau added "Comprehensively promote the lotus pond wastewater emergency treatment project", "Continue to do a good job in the environmental supervision of the lotus pond" and " Start the in-depth management of the lotus pond environment".

　　Among them, the time for filling in the schedule of key work arrangements in November 2020 is October 28, 2020. The goal of the treatment of the lotus pond is to "supervise the Qiaonan Office and the Wenchuan Environmental Protection Company to complete the emergency treatment of the lotus pond sewage as required." .

According to the meeting minutes provided by the suburban government to the inspection team, the local government only held a meeting on the management of the lotus pond on October 29, 2020.

　　In the November key work plan and completion status provided by the Suburban People’s Government to the inspection team, "Complete the lotus pond water body management" was retained, but "November 6" was deleted; the December key work plan added "Continue to do "Good lotus pond environmental supervision work", added "No abnormal phenomena found in daily inspections" in the completion status.

　　A reporter from the Beiqing Daily noted that the Tongling Suburban District Committee and the district government stated in the statement to the inspection team that the materials provided are different from the disclosure of government affairs because although the government affairs have been made public, it is considered that the inspection team may not be able to Seeing the work done, the staff added relevant content without authorization.

　　Text/Reporter Dong Xin Coordinating/Xu Feng