Tengzhou in Shandong carries out thorough efforts in water and air pollution control to promote continuous improvement in environmental quality

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Tengzhou in Shandong Province has carried out thorough efforts to manage water and air quality, thereby promoting continuous improvements in environmental conditions. With an investment of 850 million yuan, 7 sewage treatment plants have been built, giving the city a daily sewage treatment capacity of 270,000 tons. ■The use of reclaimed water in agriculture, ecological landscapes, and other areas is being promoted on a wide scale, with the city’s reclaimed water reuse rate reaching 68%. ■37 gas stations have been upgraded with oil and gas recovery systems to accelerate the transition from coal to gas and the adoption of centralized heating. ■56 small, unregulated enterprises were shut down, and over 50 illegal cases were investigated. ◆By Zhou Yanling and Dong Ruoyi from China Environment News, with contributions from Sun Wei. Vast fields of lotus flowers, stretches of reed marshes, blue waters and white sails, with seagulls flying about. At the end of each summer, wandering through the Red Lotus Wetland in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, one can experience the picturesque scene described in the verse: \"The lotus leaves stretch as far as the sky, a sea of green; the lotus flowers shine brightly in the sunlight, a stunning shade of red.\" It is truly a beautiful and poetic sight. This red lotus wetland, which covers an area of over 10,000 mu and for which Tengzhou City has invested heavily in its development, not only serves as a robust ecological barrier to protect the water quality of the South Four Lakes (Weishan Lake, Zhaoyang Lake, Dushan Lake, and Nanyang Lake), but it also boasts a unique rural charm and wetland aesthetics, earning it numerous awards such as that of \"Urban Wetland Park\". It has thus become an excellent destination for leisure and vacation. The Red Lotus Wetland is a microcosm of Tengzhou City’s efforts to promote ecological protection and restoration, as well as to improve environmental quality. In recent years, focusing on the three key areas of improving environmental quality, ensuring environmental safety, and supporting scientific development, Tengzhou City has actively carried out engineering projects, strengthened environmental supervision, and promoted continuous improvements in the quality of water and air. At present, the water quality of the main rivers in the jurisdiction of Tengzhou City consistently meets the Class III standards, and the concentrations of the four major air pollutants have all seen significant improvements compared to the previous year. In the first selection of ecological cities in Zaozhuang City, Tengzhou City was successfully selected and awarded a prize of 10 million yuan. The Environmental Protection Bureau of Tengzhou City was honored by the Zaozhuang Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government as an advanced collective in river basin pollution control efforts. Comprehensive measures to improve the watershed environment: To effectively enhance the water quality of the watershed, Tengzhou City adheres to a pollution control approach that combines treatment, utilization, and protection. It actively implements various pollution control measures such as source control, centralized treatment, and wetland purification to continuously improve the quality of river water. To date, 850 million yuan has been invested to build 3 sewage treatment plants in urban areas and 4 in towns, bringing the city’s daily sewage treatment capacity to 270,000 tons. Tengzhou City has focused on the comprehensive management of rivers and small watersheds; it has invested nearly 200 million yuan to carry out comprehensive treatment of more than 60 kilometers of sections of rivers such as the Xinxue River and Cheng River. A total investment of nearly 300 million yuan was spent on the comprehensive management project for the beautiful Jinghe River system, resulting in the creation of 10 kilometers of ecological corridors. An investment of 10.27 million yuan was made to carry out comprehensive management projects for small watersheds, focusing on the sloped farmland in Yangzhuang Town, Shanshan in Dawu Town, and Xuwowo New Village in Dongguo Town. 75.9 hectares of economic soil conservation forests were planted, and 23 square kilometers of area affected by soil erosion were brought under comprehensive management. In response to the widespread concern regarding the random dumping of garbage and waste in river areas, Tengzhou City took river management as an opportunity to conduct thorough inspections of key rivers. At the sources of such garbage pollution, efforts were made in collaboration with relevant towns and districts to clean up the area. Warning signs and informational posters were installed in sections of the rivers where garbage was likely to be discarded, and trash bins were placed in suitable locations for the centralized collection and disposal of waste, thereby effectively protecting the aquatic ecosystem. At present, Tengzhou City has established two systems for watershed ecological restoration and emergency safety prevention and control, achieving three major shifts in social development: from focusing on growth rates to emphasizing environmental quality; in water pollution control, from dealing with it only at the industrial level to adopting a comprehensive approach; and in terms of oversight, from having environmental protection agencies take charge to having both the Party and government work together on this issue. While ensuring that wastewater is treated to meet discharge standards, Tengzhou City has also built a pressurized water supply system for reclaimed water use, which can supply over 20,000 cubic meters of water per day to enterprises such as Xinyuan Thermal Power Company. Through market-driven approaches, the use of reclaimed water in agriculture, ecological landscapes, and other areas has been promoted on a wide scale, enabling the sustainable utilization of this water resource; the city’s reclaimed water reuse rate reaches 68%. Meanwhile, Tengzhou City has invested hundreds of millions of yuan to develop 4 rivers including the Chengguo River, as well as 15,000 mu of artificial wetland areas in total. These facilities are capable of treating 120,000 tons of wastewater to meet environmental standards on a daily basis, and they can reduce annual emissions of COD by 1,080 tons and ammonia nitrogen by 108 tons. Controlling coal use and reducing dust to improve air quality: To effectively enhance the quality of the atmospheric environment, Tengzhou City held a mobilization meeting for air pollution prevention and control, assigned responsibilities, and established systems for supervision, coordination, and discussions. By addressing issues such as industrial pollution, kitchen fume pollution, dust pollution, and exhaust gas pollution, the city made concerted efforts to control coal use, reduce dust, and increase green spaces, aiming to create an ecological and livable environment with clean air. To date, Tengzhou City has carried out projects to further improve desulfurization, denitrification, and dust removal in 11 enterprises such as Century Tongtai; installed wind and dust suppression nets in 12 key waste gas-emitting enterprises including Yida Huawen; and implemented additional pollution control projects in 3 fragrance-producing enterprises such as Ruiyuan. Classified management was implemented for 28 brick and tile manufacturing enterprises, of which 5 were shut down and banned. Tengzhou City has invested 10 million yuan to purchase 20 sanitation vehicles, aiming to carry out thorough cleaning of urban main roads using road machinery; watering is done four times a day, and bidding is currently in progress for two dust suppression spray vehicles. Refurbishments for oil and gas recovery at gas stations have been carried out, and 37 gas stations have passed the acceptance inspection. Efforts were made to phase out yellow-label vehicles ahead of schedule; 41 signs prohibiting traffic in certain areas were installed on major roads such as Shanguo Road, and 1,229 vehicles had their status changed from yellow to green. Coal-fired boilers are the main source of industrial pollution in Tengzhou City. Starting from June 19, Tengzhou City launched a comprehensive campaign to rectify coal-fired boilers. Various towns and districts, in collaboration with environmental protection agencies, carried out thorough inspections to determine the number of coal-fired boilers that needed to be rectified in the city’s built-up areas. The Discipline Inspection Commission of Tengzhou City, the Organization Department of the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Supervision Bureau, and the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau have formed a joint supervision team to conduct regular inspections on the progress of eliminating coal-fired boilers in various towns, streets, and departments. Tengzhou City adheres to the principle of coordinating boiler upgrades with the development of urban heating and gas supply networks; while carrying out reforms to coal-fired boilers, it accelerates the transition from coal to gas as well as the expansion of centralized heating systems. By adopting a system of incentives in place of subsidies, and using rewards to encourage improvements, subsidies are provided for the conversion of coal-fired boilers to use clean energy sources such as heat, electricity, natural gas, and hot water. Those who dismantle their coal-fired boilers on their own before the specified deadline and switch to such clean energy sources will receive a subsidy of 50,000 yuan per steam ton, after passing the relevant inspection ； For those that cease modifications, stop using the facility, and remove it on their own before the deadline for elimination, upon passing the inspection, the city **will provide a subsidy of 10,000 yuan per steam ton. To address the practical challenge of inadequate coverage by heating and gas pipelines, after numerous investigations and evaluations, Tengzhou City has opted to use \"high-temperature hot water\" as a substitute for some coal-fired boilers. Xinyuan Thermal Power Co., Ltd. is responsible for building the hot water stations, while third-party operating companies deliver the hot water to various bathhouses and hotels. To date, Xinyuan Power Plant has invested over 1 million yuan in building a hot water exchange station, along with dedicated heating pipelines and water supply pipelines ； Bishui Environmental Protection Technology Company invested over 1.8 million yuan to purchase 6 hot water delivery vehicles, which are used to deliver hot water to more than 100 customers across the city, **reducing coal consumption. To date, 273 coal-fired boilers in the built-up area of Tengzhou City have been largely rectified, which allows for a reduction of 450,000 tons of coal consumption per year, as well as a decrease in sulfur dioxide emissions by 15,000 tons, nitrogen oxide emissions by 4,500 tons, and particulate matter emissions by 2,700 tons. This has laid a solid foundation for the continuous improvement of air quality. Strict supervision establishes a prevention and control system. At the environmental monitoring center in the Lunan High-Tech Chemical Park located in Tengzhou City, an advanced emergency early-warning monitoring system caught the attention of the journalists. The reporter saw that when the staff member clicked on the sewage treatment station of Lunan Fertilizer Factory, real-time video images from the sewage outlet appeared on the electronic screen; by clicking on the “Turn off” and “Turn on” options, they could control the amount of wastewater flowing through the sewage pipes. This is a comprehensive emergency safety control system for the Xue River basin that integrates five elements: point source treatment, centralized processing, wetland purification, multi-level monitoring, and emergency response. It enables real-time monitoring of the operation of pollution control facilities and the compliance of emissions levels in all enterprises within the industrial park. It is understood that in the event of excessive wastewater discharge or environmental pollution incidents within the park, the system will automatically close the enterprise’s emergency valves, directing the wastewater into the enterprise’s emergency accident tank for proper treatment. If the enterprise’s emergency accident tank is not sufficient to meet the needs of emergency response, the park’s emergency accident tank will be activated. Wastewater is then directed to this tank through specialized pump stations and pipelines, where it is effectively treated in the emergency treatment facilities. If the emergency accident pond in the park is not sufficient to meet the needs of emergency response, the spread pattern of pollutants will be calculated using a pollutant dispersion simulation system. Depending on the situation, emergency sluice gates of levels 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be activated to retain the wastewater that exceeds regulatory standards, ensuring that not a single drop of such wastewater enters South Lake No. 4. While establishing an emergency response system for environmental safety, Tengzhou City makes full use of the new Environmental Protection Law, adopting a zero-tolerance policy toward environmental violations; it strictly investigates and punishes such offenses as construction without approval, failure to comply with the principle of \"simultaneous implementation of various measures,\" and discharging pollutants beyond permitted levels. Throughout the city, more than 5,200 law enforcement officers were deployed on various occasions, along with 283 law enforcement vehicles; 56 unlicensed small enterprises were shut down, and over 50 illegal cases were investigated and prosecuted ； More than 560 **complaints were received, with a resolution rate of 100%. Tengzhou City carried out special inspections on environmental safety during the flood season and holidays. A comprehensive inspection was conducted on 148 enterprises in industries such as coking, power generation, cement, and chemicals, as well as 21 key households. For the 116 enterprises that committed environmental violations, correction timelines were established after classification, and follow-up supervision and targeted oversight were implemented. The 39 enterprises that failed to complete the required corrections by the set deadline and continued to violate regulations were subject to legal penalties, thereby protecting the public’s environmental rights and interests.