Chemical enterprises openly refused environmental inspection, and the Central Inspector Group criticized local governments for their ineffective work and fraud.

CCTV News:On July 26th, the Second Inspector Group of Ecological Environmental Protection of the Central Committee conducted a sinking inspection on Jiangyin Port City Economic Zone in Fuqing City, Fujian Province. The inspector found that the water pollution prevention and control work of the Economic Zone Management Committee was ineffective, and the problem of enterprise wastewater smuggling in the park was prominent. A large amount of domestic sewage was directly discharged into the sea without treatment, and the task of upgrading the sewage treatment plant was not implemented, which led to the deterioration of water quality in some sea areas of Xinghua Bay in Fuqing City. The inspector group will further investigate and verify the situation, and promote the local authorities to speed up the rectification of problems. If there is dereliction of duty, the local authorities will be required to investigate and deal with it according to the law.

I. Basic information

Jiangyin Gangcheng Economic Zone, Fuqing City, Fujian Province is located in Jiangyin Peninsula, Xinghua Bay. Its predecessor was Jiangyin Industrial Concentration Zone. In 2006, it was upgraded to a provincial economic development zone. In 2018, it was renamed as Gangcheng Economic Zone. It is the third largest chemical industry base in Fujian Province, with 57 industrial enterprises such as medicine and fine chemicals. In 2018, the output value of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 26.3 billion yuan. Jiangyin Town and Xincuo Town of Fuqing City are located in this economic zone, with an existing permanent population of about 75,000.

Second, the main problems

(1) The problem of illegal discharge of waste water in some enterprises is outstanding. In May 2019, the on-site inspection organized by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment found that the water quality of the river near the industrial concentration area of Jiangyin Gangcheng Economic Zone was seriously polluted, and the total nitrogen concentration was as high as 181 mg/L, which was 8 times higher than the discharge standard of the sewage treatment plant in the economic zone. The concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD) at the entrance of the river into the sea reaches 338 mg/L, which is 7.4 times higher than the Class V standard of surface water.

Fuzhou Yaolong Chemical Group Company is a large-scale synthetic ammonia enterprise in the economic zone, with an existing synthetic ammonia production capacity of 210,000 tons/year and an average daily discharge of 1,500 tons of industrial wastewater. On July 26th, the inspector group spot-checked and found that the enterprise set up a concealed pipe privately, and used the rainwater outlet to secretly discharge high-concentration wastewater, with the COD concentration as high as 357 mg/L.. Further access to the information found that the enterprise was punished on June 11, 2019 for using rainwater outlets to secretly discharge wastewater. In just one month, it illegally discharged sewage again and committed crimes against the wind, which was of a bad nature. In addition, in the name of safety in production, the enterprise refused the surprise inspection by the environmental protection department, and the environmental protection law enforcement department of the economic zone can only enter the enterprise to inspect the sewage treatment facilities after obtaining the permission of the enterprise. The surrounding people strongly reacted to the environmental pollution problem of the enterprise. During the inspection period, they repeatedly wrote to report that the enterprise was "seriously leaking and damaging the surrounding environment".

Fig. 1 Yaolong Chemical Company set up a private underground pipe to connect industrial wastewater to rainwater pipes.

　(two) a large number of domestic sewage discharged directly into Xinghua Bay for a long time. When the planning of Gangcheng Economic Zone was adjusted in 2013, it was clearly required that the domestic sewage of Jiangyin and Xincuo towns in Fuqing City should be brought into the sewage treatment plant of the Economic Zone for centralized treatment. However, the management committee of Gangcheng Economic Zone failed to promote the construction of pipe network, and the progress was seriously lagging behind. By the time the inspector was stationed, the supporting pipe network of domestic sewage in Jiangyin and Xincuo towns had not been built, and more than 10,000 tons of domestic sewage in the two towns were discharged directly into Xinghua Bay through ditches every day. The on-site inspection by the inspector group found that the water bodies around the two towns were generally black and smelly, and the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the river course in Anzhi District of Jiangyin Town was as high as 22.5 mg/L, which was a severe black odor.

In 2018, the former Fuzhou Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development organized a special inspection on rural domestic sewage treatment in Fuqing City. Fuqing City Housing and Construction Bureau, knowing that Jiangyin Town’s domestic sewage has not been collected and treated, still falsely reported that Jiangyin Town’s sewage has been connected to the sewage treatment plant in Gangcheng Economic Zone for centralized treatment, and its work is fraudulent.

Figure 2 Surrounding domestic sewage direct discharge environment Figure 3 Surrounding domestic sewage direct discharge environment

　(three) the upgrading of sewage treatment plants is not implemented for six years. The sewage treatment plant in Gangcheng Economic Zone was completed and put into operation in 2010. At present, the actual treatment capacity is about 20,000 tons/day, and there has been no denitrification treatment process, so the implementation of emission standards is low. Since 2013, Gangcheng Economic Zone has carried out several rounds of planning revision, and the corresponding planning EIA opinions clearly require upgrading the sewage treatment plant and strictly controlling the total nitrogen emission. However, the management committee of Gangcheng Economic Zone has paid more attention to the implementation of the planning project than the requirements of environmental assessment, and has not carried out the upgrading of sewage, so the planning environmental assessment opinion has become "a dead letter". In December 2017, the former Fujian Provincial Environmental Protection Department issued a pollution prevention and control plan for coastal waters, further clarifying that it is necessary to strengthen pollution control in industrial clusters, and centralized sewage treatment facilities should have nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes. However, the management Committee of Gangcheng Economic Zone did not pay attention to it and did not implement it, and the task of upgrading the sewage treatment plant failed again.

The on-site inspection by the inspector group found that about 20,000 tons of industrial wastewater total nitrogen in the sewage treatment plant in the economic zone exceeded the standard for a long time. In the first half of 2019, the average concentration of total nitrogen in the drainage was as high as 110 mg/L, which was 4.5 times higher than the standard. Pharmaceutical enterprises in the economic zone should strictly control the total nitrogen emissions according to the industry standards, and also evade the industry emission standards in the name of centralized management. For example, Fukang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Fuxing Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. are large-scale chemical synthetic pharmaceutical enterprises in the economic zone. They discharge 2,700 tons and 2,400 tons of wastewater to the sewage treatment plant every day, and the total nitrogen concentration is as high as 260 mg/L and 150 mg/L respectively, which is 7.7 times and 4 times higher than the industry discharge standard.

(4) The water quality in some sea areas of Xinghua Bay has seriously deteriorated. In recent years, the water quality in the west side of Xinghua Bay Economic Zone in Fuqing City has shown an obvious deterioration trend, with the concentration of inorganic nitrogen in seawater increasing from 0.27 mg/L in 2015 to 0.5 mg/L in 2017 and still reaching 0.41 mg/L in 2018, and the water quality has deteriorated from Class II to Class IV. The monitoring results in February 2019 showed that the concentration of inorganic nitrogen in seawater in this sea area was as high as 0.89 mg/L, up 74.5% year-on-year, and the water quality seriously deteriorated to Grade IV.

Third, the reason analysis

Yaolong Chemical Group Company committed crimes against the wind, illegally discharged pollutants and had a bad nature. The management committees of Fuqing City and Jiangyin Port City Economic Zone did not know enough, did not perform their duties effectively, did not pay attention to the deterioration of water quality in Xinghua Bay, and failed to implement the requirements of planning environmental assessment and pollution prevention and control in coastal waters, resulting in the long-term failure of upgrading the standard of sewage treatment plants, and the problems of illegal discharge by enterprises and direct discharge of domestic sewage have not been solved. Fuqing City Housing and Construction Bureau resorted to fraud and responded to inspection.

The inspector group will further investigate and verify the situation, and promote the local authorities to speed up the rectification of problems. If there is dereliction of duty, the local authorities will be required to investigate and deal with it according to the law.