In recent years, Qinhuangdao City has taken the lead in implementing the river-and-lake chief system in the province, to protect the water environment.
This is the Funing section of the Yanghe River. Photo by Shi Yuan/Hebei Daily
Gao Junping (former), the village-level river chief of Xiaomi Hetou Village, Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone, is inspecting the Daihe River Ecological Park. Photo provided by Qihuangdao River-and-Lake Chief Office
There are more than 2,000 river and lake chiefs at the level of municipality, county, town and village.
In 2020, the water quality of all the 10 national and provincial assessment sections in Qinhuangdao City met the standard, and the water quality ratio was 80%. The main bathing beaches in Beidaihe District reached the first-class water quality, and hit new record in consecutive years. The river-and-lake chief work ranked the first in the province for 4 successive years during the 2017-2020 annual assessment.
“Water is being discharged upstream. There are floating objects along the river in your village. Hurry up and take care of it.” On July 7, Chen Fuqi, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress of Niutouya Town, Beidaihe District, discovered scattered debris near Puhe Bridge in Shizihe Village, and called the village-level river chief.
One hour later, the workers arrived and cleaned up the river way.
“I will spend half a day patrolling the river every week, and the village-level river chief will patrol the river at least twice a week in case anything wrong occurs, to ensure that the water quality of the rivers meets the standards.” Chen Fuqi said.
Since 2015, the Qinhuangdao Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government have focused on sustainable improvement of the water ecological environment, taking the lead in the implementation of the river-and-lake chief system in Hebei province. Taking it as an important starting point, they have made every effort to promote various tasks in water ecological management, striving to build a river system with clear water, unobstructed river ways, and green banks, and improving the ecological environment, for the sustainable development of the economic, social and ecological environment in the coastal waters of Qinhuangdao City.
One river chief responsible for one river
Recently, the staff of the River Chief Office of the Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone discovered sewage was discharged into the Xiaotanghe River.
They called the Administration Office of Urban Development Bureau, the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau, and the Ecological Environment Sub-bureau to investigate the stores along the Xiaotanghe River, find out the source of pollution and deal with it.
“The treatment of sewage and garbage on both sides of the river is very complicated, and it requires cooperation of many departments.” said Wu Qinghai, the head of the river chief office in the development zone.
“Before the implementation of the river-and-lake chief system, each department goes its own way, which makes things even worse.” said Song Shiying, director of Qinhuangdao River-and-Lake Chief Service Center, adding that cleaning the river can be effective in a short time, but the pollutants were pumped into the river by the rainwater, which caused blue algae and duckweed, and it is difficult to get any improvement.
Therefore, a leading group and office for the work of the river-and-lake chief system was established, main leaders of the municipal party committee and the municipal governments serve as the leaders of the leading group, and the deputy mayor as the director of the office, which improves the efficiency and strengthens the function.
At the same time, the Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau, the Urban Management Law Enforcement Bureau, the Water Affairs Bureau, the Agriculture and Rural Bureau, the Forestry Bureau, and the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau were included into the river-and-lake chief work system, to protect the rivers and lakes and improve water quality in accordance with their divisions.
In line with the management system of “one river chief is responsible for one river, localization management, cooperation and responsibility”, a four-level river-and-lake chief system was established, with the main leaders of the municipal party committee and the municipal government as directors, and involving the officials at all levels, more than 2,000 river-and-lake chiefs at the level of municipality, county, town and village were appointed.
“We will regularly inspect their work.” said Song Shiying, adding that those who neglect their duties should be penalized, so that the river-and-lake chief system will play its role.
Improve rivers and lakes
On July 6, the drainage ditch of Jiangying Village in Beidaihe New District was renovated, excavator dug the ditch bed, truck transported stones, and villagers worked in the Yanghe River Wetland.
“This drainage ditch is more than 400 meters long, it was dry unless it rained, and most of the rainwater flowed into Yanghe River, the logging water would go deteriorated.” said Gan Weidong, village river chief of Jiangying Village.
He reported to the River-and-Lake Chief Office of the Beidaihe New District, and the renovation project was started in early July.
“We cleaned up the river way through getting rid of the sewage and sludge, and built an ecological wetland covering an area of nearly 2 mu at the river entrance, which can purify the polluted water before it flows into the sea.” said Gan Weidong, adding that the renovation project will improve the village image, the water quality of the drainage ditch, and the ecological environment of the river.
“In recent years, we have invested a total of 2.05 billion yuan to build artificial wetlands in accordance with local conditions, implemented 27 river and lake ecological management projects, replenished water sources and ecological purification of the main and tributary streams of 6 rivers, and strengthened ecological governance." said Song Shiying, adding that river and lake treatment projects are the most direct measures to improve the water quality, and pollution control is the key to maintain the results of treatment.
Qinhuangdao City strictly investigated and remediated pollution sources such as industrial parks, living sources, and rural non-point sources, and strengthened the prevention and control of aquaculture pollution and garbage pollution.
They have invested 2.8 billion yuan to increase sewage treatment capacity by 160,000 tons/day and sludge disposal capacity by 300 tons/day.
The sewage treatment rate increased from 95% in 2013 to 97% in 2020, and the sludge harmless disposal rate reached 100%, the effluent quality of the 11 sewage treatment plants reached Class A and above standards.
They reduced the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and the chemical oxygen demand of water pollutants and ammonia nitrogen emissions were reduced by 15% and 21.7% respectively compared with 2015.
The construction rate of manure treatment and utilization facilities for large-scale farms reached 100%, and the comprehensive utilization rate of livestock and poultry farming waste reached 91%, effectively solving the problem of water pollution of sweet potato powder slurry.
In addition, they continued to improve the management of rivers and lakes, and tackled 1,124 problems. In particular, they demolished illegal building near Luanhe River, including 124 illegally constructed riverside buildings of industrial and mining enterprises and breeding farms, covering 520,000 square meters.
A total of 221 enterprises were shut down, and 1,764 sewage outlets were blocked and renovated.
“River-and-Lake Chief +” mechanism forms a joint force
The name and contact information of the river chief of Xiangying section of the Yanghe river in Funing District are on the board, so that citizens can contact him if anything wrong happens.
“This is an innovative measure that can strengthen the coordination of departments and regularly cracking down on illegal and criminal activities.” said Zhao Peng, head of the River Chief Office of Funing District.
There is no “ultimate answer” to the river and lake governance, we are always on the way for seeking better solutions.
Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone has taken the “River-and-Lake Chief + Prosecutor General” working mechanism since 2021, giving full play to the legal supervision functions of the procuratorial organs and the River Chief Office, and establishing administrative law enforcement and procuratorial supervision in the field of river and lake management, to strengthen cooperation and duty performance of the river-and-lake chief system.
“ ‘The River-and-Lake Chief + Prosecutor General’ system offered legal experts for all levels of river and lake chiefs, improved laws and regulations, law enforcement concepts and efforts, enhanced the initiative of river and lake chiefs, and promoted the implementation of various tasks of the river and lake chief system.” Wu Qinghai said.
At the same time, the development zone also improved pond management and protection mechanism, established a three-level pond chief system of district, town and sub-district, and village within the river and lake chief system, maintaining main water network for flood prevention and waterlogging removal that was not included in the river and lake chief system or the ponds with an area of more than 5 mu, to fundamentally curb the illegal occupation, construction, mining, excavation, and dumping, give full play to the function of flood control, drainage, and irrigation, open up the “nervous endings” of river and lake governance and management and protection, and promote the continuous improvement of the rural ecological environment.
Qinhuangdao City’s river and lake chief system has achieved remarkable results in practice. In 2020, the water quality of all the 10 national and provincial assessment sections in Qinhuangdao City met the standard, and the water quality ratio was 80%. The main bathing beaches in Beidaihe District reached the first-class water quality, and hit new record in consecutive years. The river-and-lake chief work ranked the first in the province for 4 successive years during the 2017-2020 annual assessment.
The improvement of the water ecological environment is inseparable from the concerted efforts of Qinhuangdao people.
“At present, nearly 80 teachers and students have undertaken the task of patrolling the river. In addition to assisting the government to complete the related tasks of the implementation of the river and lake chief system, Hebei Institute of Environmental Engineering, as a professional environmental college, we also undertake tasks such as consultation and training on the ecological environment.” said Sun Jingmin, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Hebei University of Environmental Engineering.
Up to now, they have carried out 10 river patrols, and trained the chiefs of rivers and lakes at the township and village levels.
In August 2020, Hebei University of Environmental Engineering was approved by the Provincial River Chief Office as the “Native River Chief”, responsible for the patrol and policy publicity of 13 rivers entering the sea in Qinhuangdao City, playing its role in social supervision and improving the river and lake chief system.
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