Preface

On May 18, Mr. Huo called the Research Department of CBCGDF that the ongoing construction project in Caixi River wetland park had caused massive damage to the habitat of wild water birds and led to the emission of polluted water into the river after the rupture of the sewage pipe network.

Henan Ecological Environment Department attaches great importance to the issue and has made a comprehensive investigation. Currently, the department has called on the Shenqiu County People’s government to take positive measures with responsibility and urgency to avoid the re-occurrence of similar events.

In biodiversity protection, measures like setting up floating platforms might not be a good solution. What matters is to protect their habitats and foster a good condition for them to breed.

Investigation report on the leakage of domestic sewage on the construction site of Shiheng bridge on Xicai River

1.  Basic information

The comprehensive treatment project of Inner River in Shenqiu County is a crucial water body renovation and construction project in Henan Province. The construction contents of the project include the comprehensive renovation of Ximu River, the main channel of Shabei, the first main channel in the north of Shabei, the branch of Xiangyang and the main channel in Shanan. The project construction includes constructing an ecological wetland, sewage pipe network on both sides of the river, and reclaimed water reuse for inland river and other projects. The total length of river and channel construction is 22.529 km.

In 2016, the central environmental protection inspector found that in the urban area of Shenqiu County, the sewage flows across the Hexi and Caihe Rivers. The garbage is everywhere, and the stench is fuming, which has seriously affected the quality of life and health of urban residents. The county government in Shenqiu attached great importance to the issue and launched the rectification work immediately.

2.  On-site inspection and existing problems

According to the investigation, the approval procedures for the project construction are complete, the cleaning and drainage works, sewage pumping and drainage works and sewage pipe network interception works have been completed, and public facilities such as bank slopes, greening and roads on both sides of the river are under construction. On May 3, 2021, the drainage of rainwater and sewage-mixed water in Xicai River at Hengqiaotou has been completed, and the elevation of the pipe well in the sewage pipe network has been increased 37.3m to 40.7m. 

The existing problems include: the construction of rainwater and sewage pipe network has not been made and the measures to prevent sudden environmental problems still need to be improved; the quality of domestic surface sewage overflowed in the construction section exceeds class V limit.

3.  Plans to be made

Suggestions have been made to the local government that: 1. further improve the ideological understanding to work with responsibility and a sense of urgency; 2. do an excellent job in emergency response. The emergency response plan under the condition of rainwater concentration during construction should be formulated to avoid the recurrence of sudden environmental problems; 3. improve the construction of urban pipe network to ensure the collection of urban domestic sewage; 4. carry out water quality monitoring regularly to eliminate urban black and odorous water.

Translator/Lee

Chinese original article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/noOLImEvhADLYUVQA-c3wA 

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