From the source of living water to the turbulent green tide, the Yangtze River meanders and flows, waving thousands of weather. This mother river of the Chinese nation not only carries a rich historical and cultural heritage, but also reflects a mirror of the construction of ecological civilization.
Walking along the river when the spring flowers are blooming, the reporter feels the pulse of the river of life up close. In the city on the water side, stories full of greenery are happening.
Jiujiang, Jiangxi: Renovation and upgrading of an urban lake
"Mountain water color thin cage smoke", located in the smoke water pavilion in Gantang Lake, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, is said to be the former site of the famous general Zhou Yu of the Three Kingdoms, and there are many tourists in spring. On the shore of Nanmen Lake, which is separated from Gantang Lake by a causeway, the crowd of people playing chess and chatting gathered, and it was very lively.
▲ Jiujiang "Two Lakes", known as Xuncheng's "double eyes" Photography: He Ling
77-year-old Uncle Wu lives nearby. He often goes around the lake, in addition to seeing the cultural scene, but also the "two lakes" that have accompanied him since he was a child - in one year, there have been "earth-shaking" changes here.
"The water has been changed, the silt has been cleaned up, the scenery is beautiful, and it is equivalent to renovating. Uncle Wu, who always pays attention to the dynamics of the "two lakes", said about the changes in the water environment.
With the economic and social development, the expansion of the city and the growth of the population, the "two lakes" in the center of the old city once faced pollution problems such as sludge accumulation and eutrophication, and often emitted peculiar smells. It is imperative, but not a one-day task. Since 2000, the "Two Lakes" have undergone three treatments. In March 2023, Jiujiang City joined hands with the Three Gorges Corporation to implement the "Two Lakes" Water Environment Comprehensive Treatment Project to further improve water quality and urban landscape, and the main project was completed in March this year, returning the lake to the people.
▲People walking on the shore of the "Two Lakes" Photo: Cui Xubo
At the edge of the lake, 5.2km of new sewage interception pipes and box culverts for rainwater and sewage will be built in their own ways. In the lake, about 3 million cubic meters of water have been drained, 500,000 cubic meters of surface sludge with high pollutant content have been removed, and the channel connecting to the Yangtze River has been opened, attracting living water. In the bay, submerged plants such as bitter grass, Malayan eyeweed and foxtail algae are being planted to absorb organic pollutants from the water. Wang Handong, project manager of the two lakes comprehensive treatment project of the Jiangxi Regional Company of the Yangtze River Environmental Protection Group, a subsidiary of the Three Gorges Corporation, explained, "This is a set of systematic treatment plans for 'controlling sewage, diverting and revitalizing water, removing silt, and building ecology'." ”
The source of pollution control is on the shore, and the key is in the pipe network. In order to achieve long-term clean lake water, first of all, we must make sure that sewage is no longer directly discharged, leaked into the lake, from the source of the community that produces sewage to the municipal trunk pipe, the sewage pipeline around the lake, a high-speed sewage flow network is constantly spreading from the source to the end, "we carry out the renovation of the confluence pipeline or the transformation of rain and sewage diversion according to local conditions, and continuously improve the sewage collection rate." Wang Handong introduced.
"Sewage needs to be treated, and the initial rainwater must also be prevented, as when the rainwater falls on the ground, it will wash away the sediment on the roofs, roads and in the municipal pipe network, and the direct flow into the lake will also cause pollution. Wang Handong told reporters that an underground reservoir on the shore that can hold 70,000 cubic meters of water is under construction, which is used to collect and accommodate the initial rainwater, confluence and overflow sewage, and realize recycling, and the purified rainwater will be used as ecological water replenishment into the "two lakes".
On the shore, Uncle Wu is still discussing with his neighbors the dragon boat race that will be held on the "two lakes" after the governance in May, "I am looking forward to it, I hope people from all over the world will come to see our beautiful Jiujiang scenery, haha......" Laughter echoed along the warm breeze on the lakeside.
Wuhu, Anhui Province: The sewage treatment line has been transformed into an urban landscape
Walking by the water, the Jiangdong Water Ecological Park in Wuhu, Anhui Province is full of scenery.
The fir forest gradually faded from the fiery red clothes of winter and changed into "green clothes", reflecting on the clear water like a mirror, "No one would have thought that the sewage here was overflowing and dirty." Citizen Liu Yan said with a smile, "Although I don't live nearby, I often brush up on the beautiful scenery of this park in various short videos, and take my children to check in on this Internet celebrity spot on weekends." Liu Yan bluntly said that she had been "planted".
▲Wuhu Jiangdong Water Ecological Park Photo: Cui Xubo
In addition to the beautiful scenery, the design concept and ecological function of the park should not be underestimated.
The park and the nearby Zhujiaqiao Water Purification Plant have built a green and circular ecosystem. The 40,000 tons of tailwater discharged by the water purification plant every day enters the park through underground pipelines, and is operated in parallel through the underflow constructed wetland and the enhanced treatment wetland, and is re-treated through microbial biochemical processes.
The "tail water" treated by the water purification plant also provides a steady stream of water to supplement the wetland landscape of the park, adding "smart" vitality. On the shore, flowers compete for beauty, birds chirp, in the water, aquatic plants flutter, fish play, and there are hidden mysteries in the living water ecology.
"In the early stage, through biological investigation, biological variety design, and food chain simulation, grasses, insects, fish and other species were artificially put into the water body, and a symbiotic system was initially established, and the population was optimized in the medium term. Wang Kuan, deputy general manager of Wuhu Three Gorges Water Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Three Gorges Corporation, told the mystery hidden in the water.
Nowadays, the ecological landscape of "clean water and clean air" has taken on a new look, and this ecological water purification system created by scientific and technological means has formed a virtuous cycle of flowers, birds, fish and insects, trees and rivers and lakes, realizing a gorgeous transformation from "mudflat" to a city card.
▲Wuhu Jiangdong Water Ecological Park Photo: Mao Xiangchun
Lu'an, Anhui: The old revolutionary base area is equipped with a "smart brain"
200 kilometers away, the dripping rain adds a hazy beauty to Lu'an, Anhui Province, but it inevitably brings a trace of inconvenience to travel. After getting into the taxi, the enthusiastic driver, Master Huang, began to talk with reporters.
"I've been running a taxi for more than 10 years, and I definitely know which roads are easy to walk and which roads are easy to accumulate water on rainy days. Referring to the quiet changes in the city in the past few years, the experienced Master Huang said, "For example, the current road, which was flooded when it rained heavily, is much better now." ”
But what Master Huang didn't know was that at the other end of the city, Wang Jian, a staff member of the Lu'an City Water Steward Smart Control Center, was paying close attention to the rainfall and waterlogging points, "Through the mainland's independent research and development of China's first 'factory network river, water supply and drainage' full-format intelligent control system to monitor wading facilities, we have established contact with the Lu'an Meteorological Bureau to cooperate with the implementation of urban emergency management." Wang Jian pointed to a large digital screen in front of him and said.
As far as the eye can see, the service scope covers 27 pumping stations, 7 water purification plants, 4 water supply plants, 5 storage tanks, 1 reclaimed water plant, 1 sludge treatment center, and a total of 3,950 kilometers of water supply and drainage pipe network in Lu'an City, which are "concentrated" between the square inches of this intelligent "brain".
▲Lu'an City Water Steward Smart Control Center, staff are remotely monitoring wading equipment. Photo: Cui Xubo
In the face of the rapid development of the city, Lu'an once faced problems such as insufficient sewage treatment capacity and low centralized collection rate of domestic sewage.
As a result, not only sewage treatment, rainy season waterlogging emergency treatment, from the water source to the water plant raw water transportation, water plant to the water end of the tap water supply, water end to the sewage collection and treatment of the water plant, as well as the treatment of the tail water discharge, river and lake ecological management, urban flood control and drainage, etc., "are all managed by the 'water steward', the plant network river and lake shore integration, the 'Kowloon water control' for the overall planning of the river basin, system governance, to achieve the effective improvement of the overall water environment of the city." Cheng Jun, deputy general manager of Anhui Lu'an Water Steward Company of the Yangtze River Environmental Protection Group, a subsidiary of the Three Gorges Corporation, said.
In more than four years, the centralized collection rate of domestic sewage in Lu'an has increased by 59%, the sewage treatment capacity has increased from 185,000 tons/day to 415,000 tons/day, and the treatment of 13 black and odorous water bodies in the urban area has all passed the review and cancellation of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. "Water stewardship" is also bringing more possibilities for urban governance......
▲Lu'an Sudayan Wetland Park Photo: Hu Jiusi
Nanjing Liuhe: The village's water is connected to digital technology
All the way south, the Chuhe River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, meanders through the Liuhe District of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, with beautiful scenery and surrounding villages.
▲The Chuhe River, a first-class tributary of the Yangtze River, passes through Liuhe Photo: Cui Xubo
On the bank of the Chuhe River, in the home of Zhang Jinlong, a rural villager in the central community park of Guabu in Liuhe District, the household pipe network collects kitchen water, toilet flushing and drainage, and bathing and washing sewage. Behind the house, the 400-meter-long riverside pipe on the Wuyi River has become a "high-speed channel" for sewage circulation. Not far away, a sewage treatment facility that has been integrated with the village is "turning turbidity into clean".
In 2020, the Three Gorges Corporation launched its first rural sewage treatment project, and implemented the Liuhe Rural Sewage Treatment Facilities Full Coverage Project in combination with the construction of beautiful villages and ecological protection in Liuhe. In the past four years, the construction and operation of integrated sewage treatment facilities and supporting pipe networks have covered more than 2,000 natural villages and 1,500 square kilometers in the region, serving more than 484,000 villagers.
How to manage the water environment with multiple points and scattered locations? Intelligent and digital empowerment of water environment governance is extending from cities to rural areas.
"According to the on-site inspection, the problem is a power failure, which has now been resolved. At the rural integrated treatment equipment site in the park, Chen Zhenglei, a staff member of the Liuhe project of the Yangtze River Delta Branch of the Yangtze River Delta Branch, and his colleagues came to the scene to check the situation according to the alarm information sent by the mobile APP.
▲Chen Zhenglei (left) and his colleagues inspect the equipment at the scene Photo: Zou Jie
"Hardware devices such as gateways, flow meters, electricity meters, and cameras are installed at each site to collect data, and the scattered data is finally transmitted to the control platform. When the device fails, the management and control system will automatically alarm, a pop-up window will pop up on the big screen, and our responsible operation and maintenance personnel will also receive the alarm information on the mobile terminal APP. Because each facility has a unique identification code, it can accurately and efficiently identify the location of the problem. Chen Zhenglei revealed the "secret" of efficient work.
The management and control platform that Chen Zhenglei refers to is in the Science and Technology Innovation Park of Liuhe Economic Development Zone. At this time, Wang Hanxue, the staff on duty, has received the feedback information from the staff, and continues to remotely supervise the operation of the equipment in the whole district with the help of the village sewage facilities control information platform.
In the digital beating, the intelligent digital large screen "sees six ways and listens to all directions", escorting the efficient operation of sewage treatment facilities scattered in the fields.
The spring breeze and the south bank of the Green River. On April 26, 2018, at the symposium on in-depth promotion of the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt held in Wuhan, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly demanded that "the Three Gorges Corporation should play its due role and actively participate in the ecological restoration and environmental protection construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt".
In the past six years, the people of the Three Gorges have moved and acted on orders, built and operated 22,000 kilometers of pipe networks around urban domestic sewage, dredged urban capillaries, guarded "happy rivers and lakes", empowered urban governance, and helped beautiful villages...... The green stories along the Yangtze River are still being told, and the footprints of the Three Gorges are still moving forward.
The author of this article is Huang Keyao
This article is planned by Xie Ze