Lush mountains in Huaihua
In June, green mountains and lucid rivers form a picturesque scenery, which reflects the tireless efforts of the CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee and the Huaihua Municipal People’s Government in ecological and environmental protection.
For years, the city has used Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization to guide its work and has firmly established the concept of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” to fight pollution with an iron hand in order to achieve a balance between eco-environmental protection and economic development.
Fighting pollution with an iron hand to keep the sky blue
Aerial view of the city
Eco-environmental protection is not only a tough battle, but also a protracted battle.
When attending the first plenary meeting of the Huaihua Eco-Environmental Protection Committee, Xu Zhongjian, Secretary of Huaihua Municipal Party Committee, emphasized that thorough measures must be taken to fight pollution and carry out ecological remediation to ensure that people are happy with the environmental protection effect.
When inspecting eco-environmental protection work in Hecheng District and Zhongfang County, Li Chunqiu, Deputy Secretary of Huaihua Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, stressed that relevant government agencies should fully implement their responsibilities to constantly improve the ecological and environmental quality.
In May, Huaihua’s urban ambient air quality ranked third in Hunan Province. Building on the achievement, relevant government departments will conduct spot checks and normal checks to keep the good momentum.
The Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau inspected Nancheng Jingyuan Phase II Project, Jinwei Xiaoxiang Rongcheng Phase I Project, Yangtang Industrial Park Project, and backfill project of ecological restoration of mining areas to identify and resolve problems causing air pollution.
11 counties and 2 county-level cities under the administration of Huaihua, Huaihua Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, and Huaihua International Land Port Economic Development Zone all set up leading groups headed by main leaders to tackle air pollution. Relevant municipal agencies established four task groups to enhance joint law-enforcement inspection to curb air pollution.
The Office of the Municipal Ecological Environment Committee formulated and issued Notice on the Implementation of the Five Working Methods for the Supervision of the Rectification of Outstanding Ecological and Environmental Problems, requiring relevant government departments to take comprehensive measures to curb air pollution to reach the general public’s 100% satisfaction.
Measures focus on dust control, dust suppression and dust reduction have been taken, including prohibition of outdoor burning of straw and garbage, dust control at construction sites and of construction wastes transportation, pollutant-emission reductions.
To strengthen dust control, 1,648 person-time of enforcement staff were dispatched to inspect 669 construction sites, and 234 identified problems were required to be tackled. 139 practices of outdoor burning of straw (75) and garbage (64) were prohibited. 11 outdoor barbecue stalls were banned near the No.2 Gate of the Wanda Plaza and the Tianxing Huafu commercial street. Since the launch of the inspection campaign, 35,845 sites/enterprises were inspected.
Liu Xiaoyun, a villager of Jingping Ancient Village in Zhongfang County, told reporter that good air and environment bring more business, which indeed reflects “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”
With more tourists coming to Huaihua, the city’s nature-friendly environment will propel the development of the tourism industry.
Fighting pollution with an iron hand to keep the water clean
Environmental protection law enforcement inspection
During enforcement inspections, some enterprises were punished for causing water pollution. On March 9, a sand and gravel processing plant discharged wastewater into river through a concealed pipe at the bottom of a sedimentation tank. The plant was ordered to stop production and was fined 110,000 yuan by the Ecological and Environmental Department. Hongjiang Ecology and Environment Bureau conducted night inspections over enterprises in an industrial park to crack down on illegal discharges of wastewater.
11 counties and 2 county-level cities under the administration of Huaihua have taken measures to tackle water pollution to ensure that local citizens and farmers have access to safe and healthy drinking water.
Additional measures have been carried out to enhance sewage treatment in industrial parks and medical institutions. Inspections were conducted in medical institutions with more than 20 beds to identify and rectify potential medical sewage treatment problems.
At present, Hongjiang High-tech Industrial Development Zone has formulated a rectification plan and conducted on-site verification and expert review to ensure the completion of sewage treatment standardization by the end of the year.
Data showed that in the first quarter, the section water quality was rated excellent in the evaluation of surface water quality.
Huaihua’s efforts in soil protection
Picturesque Wushui River
Compared with air and water pollution, soil pollution is less visible and more difficult to tackle.
According to one official of the Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, soil pollution has the characteristics of concealment, hysteresis and accumulation compared with air and water pollution. Once polluted, the recovery period is longer and more difficult. Since the cost of soil remediation is higher, the following measures on prevention and risk control are the priorities:
— Continuously promote the implementation of soil pollution source control projects and the prevention of cadmium and other heavy metal pollution of agricultural land.
— Continue to promote groundwater pollution prevention and control with focus on key areas. Implement the environmental classification management of chemical parks and carry out investigation and assessment of the quality of groundwater in national chemical parks.
— Promote the ecological revitalization of the countryside and strengthen the comprehensive improvement of rural environment. The improvement of environment of 55 villages has been completed. Facilitate the treatment of rural black and smelly water bodies. Promote the treatment of agricultural surface source pollution and strengthen the standardized management of livestock and poultry manure.
Meanwhile, the city has continuously strengthened law enforcement to crack down on soil pollution. On February 25, enforcement staff of the Zhongfang Ecology and Environment Bureau received a report from the general public that two persons riding a red Great Wall truck were illegally collecting waste motor oil in Zhongfang Village. Police then arrested the two from Guizhou Province for illegally collecting waste motor oil without permission and put them in administrative detention for 15 days.
The Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau has issued the Standard Operating Procedure for Responding to Public Opinions on Pollution, requiring that pollution complaints should be handled within nine working days to improve the efficiency of tackling pollution.
Wushui River (Photo/Pan Yu)
Since this year, the Ecology and Environment Bureau has received 79 environmental complaints, among which 70 have been resolved and 9 are still in processing. The efficient handling of those complaints has greatly improved the satisfaction of the public on the work of fighting pollution.
The improvement of eco-environment is a long-term undertaking without a finishing line.
“We will continue to fight the battle to prevent and control pollution, promote the precise and scientific treatment of environmental pollution in line with relevant laws, and constantly improve the modernization of ecological and environmental governance system and governance capacity to improve the city’s ecological and environmental quality,” Yi Yong, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau, said firmly.
In the new historical journey, Huaihua will practice Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization and promote the construction of ecological civilization to provide strong ecological support for the implementation of the Strategy of Five New Missions and Four Orientations.
(Translated by Yang Hong)