Ministry of Ecology and Environment： In 2022, the main stream of the Yellow River reached Grade II water quality for the first time.

　　BEIJING, Beijing, February 22 (Reporter Yuan Xiuyue) What progress has been made in the management of water ecological environment in China in the past year? What are the key arrangements for the remediation of black and odorous water bodies and the supervision of sewage outlets in 2023? On the 22nd, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a regular press conference in February, and the relevant person in charge introduced the water ecological environment management.

　　In 2022, the discharge of major water pollutants in China will continue to decline.

　　Huang Xiaozeng, Director of the Department of Water Ecology and Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that in 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued and implemented the action plan for the remediation of sewage outlets entering the Yangtze River, and the traceability of sewage outlets in the Yangtze River and Bohai Sea was completed by more than 90%, which promoted the solution of more than 20,000 sewage direct discharge and disorderly discharge. Complete the investigation of sewage outlets in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River and 30 cities in 6 provinces of Fenhe River Basin.

　　In 2022, the discharge of major water pollutants in China will continue to decline, and the goal of improving the quality of water ecological environment will be successfully completed. The proportion of excellent surface water quality sections in China was 87.9%, up 3.0 percentage points year-on-year; The proportion of sections with inferior grade V water quality was 0.7%, down 0.5 percentage points year-on-year; For three consecutive years, the main stream of the Yangtze River reached Grade II water quality, and the main stream of the Yellow River reached Grade II water quality for the first time. Chemical oxygen demand and total ammonia nitrogen emissions decreased by 3.7% and 5.5% respectively.

　　Huang Xiaozeng said that although the water ecological environment protection has achieved remarkable results, it still faces many bottlenecks and challenges, and there are still many outstanding problems and shortcomings to be solved urgently. For example, it is difficult to fundamentally eliminate black and odorous water bodies, and the water ecological environment governance capacity needs to be improved. In some places, pollution interception and pollution control are still not in place, and the problems of cyanobacteria bloom and water ecological imbalance still exist.

　　This year, the country plans to complete the renovation of more than 800 large-scale rural black and odorous water bodies.

　　Regarding the problem of black and odorous water bodies, Huang Xiaozeng said that in recent years, all localities have taken responsibility and worked hard to speed up the short-board of urban environmental infrastructure. Judging from the current situation, the black and odorous water bodies in the built-up areas of cities (excluding States and leagues) at the prefecture level and above that were included in the supervision list of black and odorous water bodies in the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" have been basically eliminated. He mentioned that in 2022, the elimination ratio of black and odorous water bodies in county-level cities successfully completed the annual target of 40%.

　　On the issue of black and odorous water bodies in rural areas, since the "14th Five-Year Plan", the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has organized all localities to carry out comprehensive investigations on black and odorous water bodies in rural areas, and has included more than 4,000 black and odorous water bodies in rural areas that have been strongly reflected by the masses and have a large area in the national supervision list, and implemented the policy of "posting accounts and canceling the numbers one by one". In 2023, the country plans to complete more than 800 large-scale rural black and odorous water bodies remediation, and related tasks have been broken down and distributed to various provinces.

　　He said that in 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Ministry of Finance launched a pilot project for the treatment of black and odorous water bodies in rural areas, and awarded 200 million yuan, 100 million yuan and 50 million yuan to 15 cities across the country according to the project investment and the declared treatment area. In 2023, the guidance to the pilot areas will be strengthened, and all localities will be urged to further promote the treatment of black and odorous water bodies in rural areas through comprehensive and systematic control measures such as pollution control, dredging, water system connectivity and water ecological restoration. At the same time, this year, the two departments will continue to select and support basic and qualified areas and carry out pilot work.

　　230,000 sewage outlets have been investigated, and about one third of them have been rectified.

　　Regarding the supervision of sewage outlets, Huang Xiaozeng said that according to the dispatching data, 245,000 kilometers of river and lake coastlines have been investigated nationwide, and nearly 230,000 sewage outlets have been found. In the future, with the deepening of the investigation work, the number will surely continue to increase. So far, about one third of the 230,000 sewage outlets have been rectified. In recent years, ecological and environmental departments at all levels have approved more than 8,000 sewage outlets into the river and filed more than 900 sewage outlets into the sea.

　　He said that this year’s target tasks are the main streams and important tributaries of the seven river basins of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Haihe River, the Pearl River, the Songliao River and the Taihu Lake. Key lakes and key bays should fully complete the investigation of sewage outlets, and also complete 80% of the traceability and 30% of the remediation tasks.

　　Huang Xiaozeng mentioned that in these typical cases exposed by central environmental protection inspectors, it was found that the centralized collection and treatment rate of sewage in some places was even less than 10%. The places where this happens should be superficial articles on pollution control, and there are still some places where environmental infrastructure construction is lagging behind and sewage treatment capacity is insufficient.

　　"The problem of water pollution is in the water and the roots are on the shore." Huang Xiaozeng said that the reason is that some places have not established a correct view of political achievements, and pollution control "pays more attention to face than lining", which requires real money and silver investment, such as the construction of sewage pipe network and the upgrading of sewage treatment facilities. These aspects are inaction and slow action, and even some places still have the idea of "waiting for what is needed", and there is no fundamental determination to completely solve this problem. This is intolerable.