East China’s Jiangsu province has stepped up its efforts for pollution control along the Yangtze River so as to ensure the high quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
As a river leading into the Yangtze River, Shizhuang River in Taizhou city used to be polluted from the direct discharge of sewage due to the failure of rain and sewage diversion.
The dumping of garbage into the river aggravated the pollution as the river was blocked, deteriorating and threatening the water quality of the Yangtze River.
The local government has made unremitting efforts to promote the rain-sewage diversion project and dredge the silt in the river. Meanwhile, more than 130 kinds of plants have been cultivated along the river banks to help purify the water.
The river is no longer synonymous to black and smelly water after it is converted into a wetland park.
17 rivers in Taizhou city have been cleaned up while restoration on 11 others is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
Statistics show the ten segments of the water in the major rivers leading into the Yangtze are polluted to downgrade the water quality from class II in 2010 to class III now.
In the first quarter of this year, 45 segments of the water in the major rivers leading into the Yangtze were polluted on a scale 10.7% higher from the same period of last year.
The provincial authorities have therefore released a series of measures to calculate the total number of chemical plants along the Yangtze River. Chemical plants that fail to meet the environmental protection standards will be closed down. Sand wharves along the Yangtze will be regulated. Urban sewage facilities will be upgraded and waste sorting system will be implemented in the rural areas.
Jiangsu has also established cooperation mechanisms for atmospheric and water pollution prevention with Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Anhui so as to comprehensively improve the level of pollution prevention and treatment in the Yangtze River.
China has made environmental protection and restoration a top priority in its development plan for the Yangtze River economic belt and the development of the economic belt will follow a green path, with the strictest environmental protection and water resources management measures.
Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of ecological restoration along the Yangtze River by reining on destructive development while inspecting in central China’s Hubei Province late last month.
Destructive development must be forbidden, said Xi, adding that the enterprises will take the lead in this regard and prosper on the path of scientific and sustainable development.
China's cabinet approved plans in February to draw ecological "red lines" to strengthen environmental protection, including 11 regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
(Source: Jiangsu International Channel)
