Water Pollution Alert: 80% of Chemical Projects Built on Water

Environmental pollution issues are related to planning and management, and planning and management deficiencies stem from GDP-oriented development models. Industry insiders pointed out that in the process of development and environmental coordination, we must proceed from strategic issues in the big direction, and we must actively promote the transformation of the mode of economic development.

While the emphasis on heavy chemical projects in all places is in the eyes of these industries in terms of their role in driving GDP, in the eyes of the environmental protection authorities, if the plans or measures are not properly implemented, chemical and petrochemical industries may become major environmental hazards for big rivers or cities. Dealing with the environmental risk challenges in the chemical and petrochemical industry is both a top priority and a long-term task.

According to the monitoring of water systems in the Liaohe River, Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River, the Pearl River, and the Songhua River, 63.1% of the river sections were polluted. The picture shows a chemical company in Hubei discharging sewage into the Yangtze River.

In the middle of the Yangtze River in the old back ferry terminal in the Yuting District, Yichang City, Hubei Province, the chemical wastewater from a textile printing and dyeing plant is discharged directly into the Yangtze River through a pipe buried in the river, and a white foam appears on the surface of the river like the “White Dragon River”. Photo courtesy of CNS The establishment of factories along the river and the discharge of waste water can save a lot of sewage charges, but it is a catastrophic disaster for the environment. It is understood that the national emission of pollutants is emitted by some major enterprises. From the list of state-controlled key pollution sources released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection every year, we learned that a total of 10,000 companies (8,000 enterprises and 2,000 sewage treatment plants including water, gas, and heavy metals) involved 65% of China's waste gas emissions. The proportion is very large, and most of these companies are located in the Yangtze River basin.

When interviewed by a reporter from the China Enterprise News, Ma Jun, author of "China Water Crisis" and director of the Public and Environmental Research Center, said that the Yangtze River, which has long been hailed as the "Golden Waterway", is now heavily polluted. About 40% of the country's sewage is discharged. The Yangtze River Basin. Sadly, there are still large construction scales that are still rushing to the Yangtze River.

This year is the beginning of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period. In the past, the opening year was generally the most intensive year for all major projects. As of the end of October this year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection responsible for the examination and approval of environmental impact assessment for major projects (hereinafter referred to as the EIA) accepted 257 construction projects with a total investment of 140.35 billion yuan.

Environmental pollution issues are related to planning and management, and planning and management deficiencies stem from GDP-oriented development models. Industry insiders pointed out that in the process of development and environmental coordination, we must proceed from strategic issues in the major direction, and we must actively promote the transformation of economic development methods. To the local and project specific, we must strengthen the promotion of environmental protection work and promote the environment. The integration of protection and economic development.

Chemical projects in the densely populated media of the Yangtze River have revealed such a shocking figure: Of the 7,555 chemical and petrochemical construction projects in the country, 81% are located in sensitive areas such as river waters and densely populated areas, and 45% are major sources of risk. For the Yangtze River, there are more than 400,000 chemical companies along the coast. In addition, there are five major iron and steel bases, seven refineries, and three major petrochemical bases.

According to a data released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on December 11 last year, "The vast majority of the chemical and petrochemical construction projects with a total investment of nearly 1,015.2 billion yuan are located in river basins including the Three Gorges reservoir area and the South-North Water Diversion Canal. Densely populated areas and other environmentally sensitive areas.

The Yangtze River, known as the "Golden Waterway," has been China's water transportation artery that stretches through east and west and connects the north and the south. The water content of the Yangtze River accounts for 40% of the country's total. The main stream of the Yangtze River has 11 provincial-level administrative regions, and is also an important source of water for cities along the river.

It is understood that the chemical industry's invasion of the Yangtze River shoreline is particularly evident in the downstream. Only a short distance from Nanjing to Shanghai, there are 8 large-scale chemical parks near Lingang along the Yangtze River; while in Jiangsu Province, often dozens of kilometers away, several chemical parks will be discovered; Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, Each of the subordinate districts has built nine large chemical parks. Each park has several dozens of large and small chemical companies. With the establishment of various types of chemical industrial parks, logistics, warehousing and upstream and downstream extensions, upstream and downstream industries such as ports, storage tanks, and chemical projects have rushed.

In an interview with a reporter from China Enterprise News, Ma Jun said that the Yangtze River Basin has shown some serious problems. For example, the pollution of Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake, and some tributaries is already very serious. It is understood that there are nearly 500 water intakes in the mainstream of the Yangtze River, which are currently affected to varying degrees by shoreline pollution belts.

Any spring and silver owner of the Information Center of the Jiangsu Provincial Environmental Protection Agency stated that most of the water resources in the cities along the Yangtze River will be maintained in the Yangtze River. Once the Yangtze River is polluted, it will be free of water. "Now the chemical parks along the river in the central and western regions have been established one after another. Extensive development methods have been adopted, and sewage is bound to run downstream. This has caused great restrictions on the downstream."

“A lot of cities along the Yangtze River are dragging long pollution belts, including urban industrial areas.” Ma Jun said that while cities are developing, their mutual influence is very large. Today, many reservoir districts are building multiple chemical parks, putting great pressure on rivers. He cited an example of more than 700 kilometers of urban river sections with more than 600 kilometers of pollution in the middle, and the pollution is very serious.

According to industry analysts, from the perspective of international experience, chemical companies are mostly built near rivers, lakes and seas, and China is no exception. Due to the advantages of high-quality ports and hinterland resources, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Jiangsu, and even Shanghai have all hesitated to regard heavy chemical industry as their mainstay of development; some central enterprises that rely on heavy chemical industry as the dominant industry have become “giant”. The main target of local government competition.

When interviewed by a reporter from China Enterprise News, the China Investment Advisor Environmental Protection Industry Researcher Pan Yuhong stated that from the perspective of the development of the industry, the pace of development of the environmental work and the chemical industry is extremely unmatched, and it even lags behind many levels. In the early stage of the development of the chemical industry, most of them were built along river basins in order to save water resources and transport costs. Most chemical cities are the lifeblood of local and regional economies. Therefore, in the process of vigorously developing the economy, local governments are also actively advancing similar projects, and environmental supervision is lax. With the increase of environmental awareness, the ills in the initial industrial planning are gradually exposed, and then the current situation has emerged.

The chemical industry urgently needs technical upgrading. According to the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” that has been publicized throughout the country, the staff of the Environmental Impact Assessment Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection expects that in the next five years, there will be more than 30 large-scale refinery projects to be started in various places, with an additional refining capacity of 200 million tons. .

According to the person in charge, at present, the willingness to develop chemical petrochemicals is very strong everywhere. Coastal and coastal provinces and autonomous regions have planned large-scale refinery bases, chemical petrochemical projects, and chemical and petrochemical industries have accelerated their expansion.

It is understood that the projects accepted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection this year are mainly energy, resource development and infrastructure projects. As of the end of October, 234 projects have been approved with a total investment of 1,245.23 billion yuan. Among them, there are 79 railway, highway, water transport, civil aviation, urban construction, and social projects with a total investment of 581.51 billion yuan, accounting for 46.7%.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection refused to approve 32 construction projects that did not meet industrial policies, unreasonable site selection, and inadequate environmental protection measures. The decision to return and suspend approvals involved a total investment of 100.64 billion yuan.

The heavy chemical projects that are being touted throughout the country are fancy for the pulling effect of these industries on GDP. However, if the plans or measures are not properly implemented, chemical and petrochemical industries may become major environmental hazards for big rivers or cities. Dealing with the environmental risk challenges in the chemical and petrochemical industry is both a top priority and a long-term task.

A chemical industry official told the “China Enterprise News” reporter that the analysis of the status quo of the Chinese chemical industry, of course, there are problems with the layout planning, but the overall environmental governance and risk management of the chemical industry is the crux of the problem.

The aforementioned person in charge pointed out that the size of China's chemical and petrochemical enterprises is generally small, and some companies have backward production processes and equipment, and are prone to secondary pollution incidents due to safety production accidents. In addition, some companies have low awareness of environmental risks and their environmental risk prevention facilities and emergency response capabilities are also insufficient.

How to keep the ecological bottom line of rivers? Pan Yuhong told the “China Enterprise News” reporter that on the one hand it was to curb the expansion of new capacity in the river basin, and on the other hand it was looking for the right opportunity to take measures such as relocation and other measures to reduce the basin load.

“The environmental work involved in the above two aspects includes planning and supervision, and environmental assessment has occupied a very important position in it. Vigorously developing strategic environmental assessment, planning environmental assessment, and project environmental assessment are all good measures to improve the environment,” said Pan Yuhong.

Sun Weishan, director of the Industrial Development Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, emphasized that products should be transferred instead of pollution. In the process of transfer, technology must be upgraded to avoid repeating the mistakes.

Pan Yuhong also pointed out that EIA institutions still violate the law. In the process of coordinating development with the environment, we must start with strategic issues in the big direction, and we must actively promote the transformation of economic development methods. To the local and project specific, we should strengthen the promotion of environmental protection work and promote environmental protection and economy at present. The integration of development.