The Chishui River is an important tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwest my country. It flows through the three provinces and four cities of Zhaotong in Yunnan, Bijie in Guizhou, Zunyi, and Luzhou in Sichuan. It is also the only first-class tributary in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River that has not built a mainstream dam and maintained its natural flow pattern. It is an important habitat and breeding place for many rare and unique fish species, with rich biological resources and outstanding ecological status. Once upon a time, the Chishui River Basin faced a series of problems such as pollution, soil erosion, and ecological degradation. In order to keep the water clear and the banks evergreen, in recent years, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces have jointly promoted comprehensive management of the river basin, and the ecological environment of the Chishui River Basin has continued to improve.
Chishui River is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It originates from Zhenxiong County, Yunnan Province. After flowing eastward to the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces, it has a more than 190-kilometer river section that is the boundary river between Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. The middle and lower reaches flow through Zunyi, Guizhou, and in Luzhou, Sichuan Province. Hejiang County of the city merges into the Yangtze River. The Chishui River basin has a wide scope and flows through rural areas, towns and industrial agglomerations. The environmental characteristics are relatively complex. The protection of the Chishui River basin once faced great difficulties.
Chang Jiwen, deputy director of the Resource and Environmental Policy Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council: “In the past, when there was no coordinated large-scale conservation, each place had its own plans and measures, and each place had its own industry. Structure, and the different economic and social development conditions of some cities in this river have resulted in each river having its own calculations and taking different measures, which ultimately resulted in chaotic sewage discharge and chaotic management.”
The Kuzhu River in Weixin County, Yunnan is located. The upper reaches of the Chishui River is a secondary tributary of the Chishui River. Deep in the mountains, the flat land is a scarce resource. People's houses are built along the river, and most of the domestic garbage is thrown into the river.
In 2021, Yang Min began to serve as the secretary of the Party branch of Nanmu Village. At the same time, as the "minimum river chief" in the five-level river chief system of provinces, cities, counties and villages, he managed and protected the ecological environment of the three-kilometer section of the Kuzhu River that flows through Nanmu Village. is her main responsibility. But the job isn't easy.
Yang Min, Secretary of the Party Branch of Nanmu Village, Shuanghe Miao and Yi Township, Weixin County, Yunnan: “At the beginning, the masses did not support it because they were used to throwing garbage into the river, and excrement was discharged directly into the river. I think it is very convenient, but the awareness of protecting the river has not been established.”
In a place like Nanmu Village, environmental protection is easy to say but difficult to implement. People's long-term habits are hard to change, and local environmental protection policies, law enforcement and supervision standards, capital investment and downstream have not formed a unified layout. If the water source of Nanmu Village located in the upper reaches of the Chishui River is polluted, the ecological environment downstream will also be affected.
Three provinces and four cities are governed by rivers, which seriously restricts the ecological environment protection of the Chishui River Basin and the regional economic and social development. In order to protect the Chishui River well, it is necessary to achieve coordinated protection and coordinated development of the upper and lower reaches of the Chishui River, as well as the left and right banks.
Chang Jiwen, deputy director of the Resource and Environmental Policy Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council: “The collaborative protection of the Chishui River Basin has also gone through a process. At the beginning, some neighboring cities and towns, including the left and right banks, carried out negotiations on ecological compensation, In terms of environmental law enforcement, joint law enforcement began, and later consultations between regions were formed, including coordination of planning and legislation. In 2021, each of the three provinces issued a decision to implement legislation, and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of each province formulated it. Chishui River Protection Regulations promote the integration and overall protection of the Chishui River Basin.”
With legal constraints, the three provinces and four cities began to unify under the principles of clearly following ecological priority, green development, joint efforts in large-scale protection, and no large-scale development. Planning, unified standards, and unified governance.
Yang Min, Secretary of the Party Branch of Nanmu Village, Shuanghe Miao and Yi Township, Weixin County, Yunnan: "After the promulgation of the regulations, I have more confidence to manage the river well. I will do work and publicity from door to door, and hold courtyard dam meetings and fire ponds." They also used loudspeakers to publicize the Chishui River Protection Regulations through multiple channels, and gradually the masses became involved.”
Yang Min took the lead in formulating a treatment plan based on the actual local situation, demolishing barrages and brick factories, building harmless septic tanks, fermenting human and animal sewage and returning it to the fields, and centralized recycling and treatment of solid waste. There are laws, regulations and village rules and regulations. After being restrained, the people stopped littering and participated voluntarily, turning themselves from polluters into guardians.
The management of Nanmu Village not only improved the local environment, but also brought clean water sources to the lower reaches of the Chishui River. Under the general framework of the joint management of the three provinces of the Chishui River, Yunnan Province in the upper reaches of the Chishui River is engaged in water pollution control, and Sichuan and Guizhou in the middle and lower reaches are also carrying out pollution prevention and control.
"Chishui River and Wanguliu make wine at the top and oil at the bottom." It is a boatman's chant spread in the Chishui River Basin. Thanks to the unique water and soil environment, there are many liquor production companies along the Chishui River. The disordered development of liquor companies has caused pollution to the ecological environment of the Chishui River Basin.
is located in Sichuan. A winery in Yongle Street, Gulin County, used to have backward production technology, incomplete environmental protection facilities, and unstandardized sewage treatment. In order to prevent and control pollution, the local government introduced Sichuan Wine Group to acquire the old wine company and unified the planning. A series of upgrades have been carried out on the factory area, and liquor wastewater treatment facilities have been built to centralize the production wastewater of liquor companies in the park, collect it uniformly, and treat it uniformly.
In recent years, not only Sichuan Gulin County has begun to promote the transformation of small liquor enterprises. Upgrading, improving quality and efficiency, planning and layout of sauce wine production parks, Renhuai, Xishui and other places in Guizhou on the other side of the Chishui River are also guiding the standardized development of wine companies and constantly improving public supporting services such as water supply, energy supply, and sewage treatment.
The pollution has been stopped, and the river water has become cleaner. Under the framework of joint management of the Chishui River, the three provinces and four cities must implement local policies and vigorously carry out ecological restoration projects. In Zhenxiong County, Yunnan, there were many sulfur smelting projects in the past. Around 2000. , all smelting sites were closed and phased out one after another, leaving a lot of sulfur slag piled in the open air. In the past, the local government carried out ecological restoration by planting trees and building slag dams around the sulfur slag dump, but there was no large-scale or professional implementation. Remediation, in areas where sulfur slag is concentrated, ecological and environmental problems are still more prominent
Shang Dakui, Director of the Project Office of Zhenxiong Branch of the Ecological Environment Bureau of Yunnan Zhaotong City: "The finished products and waste residues piled up are affected by rain and upstream pollution. After the water flows through the waste residue, it greatly pollutes the river downstream. The water is yellow, has a very low pH value, is basically highly acidic, and contains many pollutants. The downstream flows to the Chishui River. "
Zhenxiong is located in the upper reaches of the Chishui River. If the slag is not properly treated, it will affect the ecological environment of the lower reaches of the Chishui River. Historical problems that have not been solved for many years have also brought new opportunities because of joint governance. In recent years, Zhenxiong has The county has standardized the treatment of 12 historical sulfur smelting waste residue storage sites one by one. By 2021, all 12 sites have completed ecological restoration, and historical problems have been completely resolved.
The Chishui River is an important biodiversity protection area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. To allow the biodiversity of the Chishui River to blend with each other, it is not only necessary to do a good job in pollution prevention and ecological restoration, but also small hydropower stations that have a greater impact on aquatic life in the Chishui River basin.
Before 2021, small hydropower stations developed and constructed on tributaries of the Chishui River. There are 17 in Yunnan, 132 in Sichuan, and 224 in Guizhou. Although this has provided power guarantee for local people's production and life to a certain extent, it has also led to varying degrees of drying up in some rivers, and the species and number of fish stocks have continued to decline. , which brings considerable challenges to the environmental management of the Chishui River Basin
Wang Qifei, deputy director of the Gulin County Water Affairs Bureau in Sichuan: “Building a dam in the upper reaches and diverting water through channels to generate electricity will reduce the flow of water from the dam to the power generation plant. , or even dry up. After the dam was built on the river, the living space of fish was reduced, causing some fluctuations in the hydrological situation. ”
From 2020 to 2022, Zhaotong City took the lead in completing the safe decommissioning and ecological restoration of all 17 small hydropower stations among the three provinces and four cities on the Chishui River.In Sichuan, of the 132 small hydropower stations in the Chishui River Basin, except for one that will be retained and one that will be withdrawn at a scheduled date, the remaining 130 will be demolished before the end of this year. Guizhou also plans to withdraw a total of 195 small hydropower stations in the Chishui River Basin by the end of 2024, and has currently withdrawn 180.
In mid-January 2024, staff from the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, came to a monitoring point on the Chishui River early in the morning to carry out daily monitoring of fish resources. The Chishui River is an important habitat for rare and endemic fish in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The recovery of fish resources in the Chishui River can intuitively reflect the current status of fish resources in the entire Yangtze River basin. Small hydropower stations that have had a great impact on aquatic life have been withdrawn in an orderly manner. In addition, since 2017, the Chishui River has been banned from fishing for ten years. According to monitoring data, the number of fish in the Chishui River has at least doubled, and rare fish There are more and more categories.
The co-management of the three provinces has effectively protected and improved the ecological environment of the Chishui River Basin. This is a vivid practice of the Yangtze River's "joint efforts to protect and avoid large-scale development". These efforts not only help improve the quality of life of local residents, but also lay a solid foundation for regional sustainable development. The exploration of Chishui River management also tells us that the management of rivers and lakes is often not a matter of one place, but requires the coordinated efforts of the upstream and downstream, left and right banks, trunks and tributaries. It requires not only institutional guarantees, but also pragmatic and solid actions. The cross-border rivers and lakes are clear and green.
(Source: CCTV News Client)
