Blue sky, clear water, pure land Witnessing Together the Battle of Protecting Beautiful China's Ecology | Xiayang Village | Bishui

If you ask about the changes in our country's ecological environment in recent years, what do you feel the most deeply about it? I believe everyone has this answer: the sky is bluer, the water is clearer, and the environment is more beautiful. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has started by addressing the ecological and environmental issues strongly reflected by the masses, and resolutely declared war on pollution. The battles to defend the blue sky, clear water, and pure land have been launched one after another.

Ten years in the new era

China has achieved historic achievements in ecological and environmental protection

In the past decade of the new era, China has made historic achievements in ecological and environmental protection. The PM2.5 concentration in key cities across the country has decreased by 57%, making China the country with the fastest improvement rate in global air quality. The proportion of high-quality surface water sections in China has increased by 23.8 percentage points, approaching the level of developed countries.

Ultra low emission transformation

The "Green Revolution" in the Steel Industry

The battle to defend the blue sky has entered a crucial stage, and the steel industry has become the main battlefield for air pollution control. The ultra-low emission transformation of the steel industry in Tangshan, Hebei has always been at the forefront of the country. What exactly will be changed for ultra-low emission transformation? What does a renovated steel enterprise look like?

CCTV reporter Wang Chen: Iron splashes, heat waves roll, and smoke evaporates, which is people's impression of traditional steel mills. Now, this stereotype is being changed.

This is a large steel plant in Tangshan, Hebei with an annual output of 7 million tons. Walking in the factory area, one can see lush greenery and the fragrance of birds and flowers everywhere. How did a steel plant of this scale achieve a green transformation?

The logistics of China's steel industry heavily relies on road transportation. According to industry statistics, the emissions from transportation vehicles such as large trucks can account for 20% to 30% of the emissions from the steel industry. In people's traditional impression, the roads inside the steel plant are always filled with smoke and dust, and large trucks are emitting exhaust while littering with slag and coal. But in today's steel plant, not only must the transportation of materials be strictly covered, but vehicles with substandard exhaust cannot even enter the factory door.

CCTV reporter Wang Chen: The camera at the entrance of the factory is a clean transportation access control monitoring system, which is connected to the monitoring data of the environmental protection department. When a large truck drives to the factory gate, the camera will automatically recognize the license plate number and determine whether the vehicle's exhaust emissions meet the standards. All new energy electric trucks or vehicles with National VI emissions will be lifted and released, and vehicles that do not meet the standards will be stopped outside the door.

In order to further reduce pollution during raw material transportation, steel mills have taken significant actions. Relying on the geographical advantage of being close to the Bohai Sea, the newly built transfer terminal funded by the enterprise will be put into use. More than 14 million tons of raw materials and finished products will be directly ashore and discharged into the sea here every year.

CCTV reporter Wang Chen: The 6.5 kilometer long air transport corridor will also be put into use together with this dock. This air transport corridor extends from the dock all the way to the material warehouse of the steel plant, and the factory will truly achieve "no material seen during transportation".

In addition to transportation, there have also been significant changes in the stacking and batching process. Traditional material stacking plants are set up outdoors, and every year, four thousandths of dust such as slag will diffuse into the atmosphere. In this steel plant, all 700000 square meters of mechanized silos are in a closed mode, and there is also a sensitive and accurate dust removal system inside the silos.

CCTV reporter Wang Chen: Everyone, look at the floor of the material factory. Is it very smooth and bright? This is all thanks to this dust removal system. We can see that there are machines working on ingredients inside, and dust is generated in the air. The nearby fog gun has already started automatically. This intelligent monitoring system makes dust nowhere to hide.

The smelting of blast furnaces is booming, which cannot be seen in this steel plant. In the No.1 blast furnace workshop of the factory area, we can see that the blast furnace has been tightly sealed.

CCTV reporter Wang Chen: Next to me is a hidden ditch, and the molten iron produced from the furnace flows into the molten iron ladle through this ditch, truly achieving the goal of "seeing no iron when casting iron".

Ma Qianguang, the director of the No.1 blast furnace at Fengnan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. of Zongheng Iron and Steel Group: Now that we enter the factory, we no longer need to wear masks. After the working environment improves, our overall mood is also relatively happy.

CCTV reporter Wang Chen: In traditional steel mills, the sintering process has always been a major emitter of pollutants, accounting for over 70% of the total emissions of enterprises. And in the huge factory building around me, there is the world's first multi-stage deep purification system for sintering flue gas, which occupies an area even larger than the production facilities. There are multiple flue gas treatment facilities inside, in addition to traditional basic processes such as activated coke desulfurization and denitrification, two additional deep treatment processes have been added. After one-stop purification treatment here, the sintering process has completely rid itself of the hat of a major pollutant emitter.

Wang Li, Executive Vice General Manager of Fengnan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. of Zongheng Iron and Steel Group: On the surface, it seems that our environmental protection investment is indeed large and the operating costs are relatively high. However, due to our good environmental protection work, we have been rated as an A-level enterprise in environmental performance rating. This means that under the same conditions, we can enjoy many policy benefits. In the long run, this account is very cost-effective.

Through continuous promotion of ultra-low emission transformation in the steel industry, China's steel industry has ushered in a completely new "green revolution" in recent years. As of the end of 2022, more than 200 million tons of crude steel production capacity in China have completed the full process ultra-low emission transformation. In the first quarter of this year, about 40 million tons of crude steel production capacity have completed the transformation. Compared with before the renovation, the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dust per ton of steel in China have decreased by half in 2022, reaching the international leading level. The 10 cities with concentrated steel production capacity in China have an average decrease of 24% in PM2.5 concentration, and an average increase of 7 percentage points in the proportion of excellent days.

From 6.2% to 100%

A drop of water witnesses the "counterattack" of the Tuojiang River

The Tuojiang River in Sichuan is a primary tributary of the Yangtze River and was once the most polluted river in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Returning this river to clear water was once considered an "impossible task". Under a set of comprehensive river basin management "combination fists", the water quality improvement rate of the Tuojiang National Examination section has increased from 6.2% in 2017 to 100% in 2022, making it the main river in Sichuan Province with the most significant improvement in water environment quality. What exactly happened over the past 5 years? Let's start with a drop of water to find the answer.

Neijiang, Sichuan is one of the 108 cities with severe water shortage in China. Looking down from a high altitude, there is a unique building in the city of Neijiang, which looks like a big water droplet falling in the middle of high-rise buildings. Inside this "water droplet", there are ten thousand tons of domestic sewage every day, which changes from turbid to clear.

CCTV reporter Bian Xiaoyan: The cup on my left is untreated sewage, and the cup on my right is purified recycled water. This cup of recycled water not only looks clear, but also of high quality. On the screen behind me, it displays the effluent indicators of the Xiejiahe Recycled Water Plant. The indicators of several major pollutants have generally decreased by 60% on the basis of national standards. After undergoing a transformation, the regenerated water is about to return to the city, with one-third replenishing water from reservoirs and one-third watering green spaces. Where will the last one-third go? Let's take a look.

This small waterfall is the outlet for recycled water. Now it is a very popular photo taking and check-in attraction. I can't believe that domestic sewage can return to the citizens in such a beautiful way.

The photo shows the Xiejia River in 2015, which was a foul smelling ditch with poor Class V water quality at that time. At that time, the entire Tuojiang River basin was severely polluted because the mountainous areas near the source of the Tuojiang River had extremely abundant phosphorus ore resources. Influenced by the phosphorus chemical industry, this clear stream had already been polluted as soon as it left the mountains.

The Tuojiang River Basin is the most concentrated, densely populated, and economically strong region in Sichuan Province. Its water resources only account for 3.5% of the province's total, but it carries 27.4% of the province's population and 32.1% of its gross domestic product. For 3 million people in Neijiang, this mother river means more. The Neijiang River is severely short of water, and the per capita share of freshwater resources is only one twentieth of the world's per capita share.

Xu Meng, Deputy Director of the Water Bureau of Neijiang City: Water environment, water resources, and water ecology are interdependent. For us in Neijiang, the lack of water resources is a natural weakness. If we want to break this situation, we must first pull out one aspect, first use our efforts to bring up the water environment, and then drive the water ecology to slowly conserve water resources. So, our "Mintuo River Water Pollutant Discharge Standards" are the strictest in the country.

In 2017, the battle for water control in the Tuojiang River officially began. The first battle is "Guan" -161 sewage outlets were closed and 317 non compliant enterprises were cleared along the inner reaches of the Tuojiang River alone. Another battle is "construction" - all 83 townships in Neijiang have built sewage treatment facilities, with an investment of nearly 9 billion yuan, to build an urban and rural garbage treatment system. The final battle is to "protect" -11 black and smelly small rivers, transformed into 11 wetland parks, and together with a 50 kilometer riverside greenway, protect the banks of the Tuo River.

CCTV reporter Bian Xiaoyan: The entire surface of the Tuojiang River is green, and there is no garbage to be seen. With the continuous improvement of ecology, the water quality of the Tuojiang River reached the standard for the entire basin for the first time last year, and the water environment quality also reached the best level in 20 years.

From pollution control to "three water coordination", from ecological restoration to long-term protection, people and water have found new ways to coexist, and the Qianli Tuo River is emitting infinite vitality and energy.

Basin ecological compensation:

Jiming Wen, Two Provinces Protecting One Bixi Together

People often praise the continuous flow of rivers, as water flows from upstream to downstream. However, the cross regional flow of sewage can be said to be an important reason for the difficulty of water management. So how did China solve this problem today?

CCTV reporter Li Jingjing: Jiming heard that the two provinces are talking about here. This is Guangde in Anhui and Anji in Zhejiang; In addition to their geographical proximity, there is also a clear link between them - Xiayang Creek. Xiayang Creek originates from Xitiao Creek and flows from Guangde in Anhui Province to Anji in Zhejiang Province in the downstream. It provides drinking water for the people of four villages in Anhui and Zhejiang provinces. Now, this small stream has become a green link for their common development.

"Green" has distant relatives in the deep mountains. This is Xiaohangkeng in Xiayang Village, known as Anji Little Switzerland, and is also one of the most popular camping spots in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Suzhou tourist Li Dongying: We came by car in less than two hours. The air here is very fresh, and the photos look great.

In 2022, Xiayang Village received over 80000 camping tourists, with a tourism income of 5 million yuan and a per capita income of over 25000 yuan for villagers. Even the caf é located at the entrance of the campsite is always full on holidays. The female protagonist Yao Huan married to Xiayang Village from another city three years ago, but in her memory, the scene of Xiaohangkeng back then was completely opposite.

Yao Huan, the owner of Xiaohangkeng Cafe in Xiayang Village, Anji, Zhejiang: Back then, there weren't many people, and everyone's awareness of environmental protection wasn't that strong. They littered everywhere and all sorts of things. At that time, the lawn was not as beautiful as it is now.

In the past, the industrial wastewater and domestic waste floating debris discharged from upstream villages caused continuous pollution to the streams in Xiayang Village, and also affected the village's business development. Due to issues such as poor communication, inconsistent protection standards, and insufficient investment, it is difficult to carry out cross provincial water management work.

In order to completely change this appearance. In 2022, Xiayang Village and Lucun Township in Guangde City, Anhui Province communicated and negotiated to formulate the "Assessment Measures for Cross Provincial Water Management in the Xiayang River Basin of Zhejiang and Anhui Provinces". Subsequently, Xiayang Village further signed a horizontal ecological protection compensation agreement with three upstream villages, Shijun Village, Shishi Village, and Gaomiao Village, promising to pay 300000 yuan of ecological compensation to upstream villages as long as the water quality of the intersection section between upstream villages and Xiayang Village meets the standards and passes the cross provincial water management assessment.

Every month, Xiayang Village entrusts a third-party testing agency to test the water quality of cross provincial sections. If the permanganate index, ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus meet the Class II water standard, upstream villages can receive compensation on a monthly basis.

Bao Xin, Secretary of the Party Branch and Director of the Village Committee of Xiayang Village, Xiaofeng Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province: If there is damage upstream, it may be more serious downstream. We need to pay a greater price to treat it and restore it to its original state. Therefore, a good environment and good water quality are particularly important. I hope that upstream and downstream can work together to protect, so that we can enjoy a win-win situation.

Zhang Yifang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch of Shijun Village, Lucun Township, Guangde City, Anhui Province: Economic compensation is actually a form of incentive. In the early stage, we have also done a lot of water resource protection work, including centralized treatment of our domestic waste and sewage. It can be seen that the environment along the river has significantly improved, and the living environment of the people has also been greatly improved. We need to let the people taste the sweetness in the green mountains and water.

Bao Xin, Secretary of the Party Branch and Director of the Village Committee of Xiayang Village, Xiaofeng Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province: On rainy days like this, sometimes there will be a lot of floating garbage, which is a headache for us. Can we have some joint salvage mechanisms.

Zhang Yifang, Deputy Secretary of the Party General Branch of Shijun Village, Lucun Township, Guangde City, Anhui Province: What you just talked about is to create a network and set it up, which is a solution.

On weekdays, Shijun Village in the upstream and Xiayang Village in the downstream patrol the water situation together