Since the launch of the Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance Campaign, Tianjin's 8 nationally monitored rivers flowing into the sea have all transitioned from 'all inferior' to 'all non-inferior'. The proportion of national monitoring sections with good water quality has increased by 20 percentage points, and the proportion of Class V inferior water quality has decreased by 40 percentage points, achieving 'zero', with a reduction rate ranking among the top in the country. Zhao Wenxi, director of the Water Environment Management Office of the Tianjin Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, detailed the achievements and methods to the reporter.

 

The three-year campaign was arduous but fruitful. There are a total of 51 nationally monitored rivers flowing into the sea in the three provinces and one municipality around the Bohai Sea, carrying large amounts of pollutants into the ocean. At the same time, labels such as "China's only semi-enclosed inland sea" and "poor seawater exchange capacity" highlight the fragility of the Bohai Sea's marine ecosystem. The internal and external difficulties resulting in the "Bohai Sea's suffering" have caused many to lament.

 

Protecting the Bohai Sea is of great significance to China's exploration of new mechanisms and models for marine ecological environment governance. "The Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance Campaign is the first battle in the pollution control campaign in the marine field, focusing on improving marine environmental quality. The river-sea joint governance 'eliminating inferior water quality action' started in the Bohai Sea, the investigation and rectification of sea-inlet sewage outlets started in the Bohai Sea, and the strict control of sea reclamation started in the Bohai Sea." said Huo Chuanlin, deputy director of the Marine Ecological Environment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

 

After the launch of the Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance Campaign, the three provinces and one municipality around the Bohai Sea quickly took action, vigorously promoting comprehensive governance, achieving remarkable results, and recently reporting frequent good news. The latest data shows that in 2020, the proportion of good water quality in the near-shore waters of the Bohai Sea was preliminarily estimated to be over 80%, exceeding the set target of 73%; five key difficult and challenging tasks with hard indicators are expected to be successfully completed.

 

River Governance: River-Sea Joint Governance, Three Provinces and One Municipality

All Nationally Monitored Rivers Flowing into the Sea Have Eliminated Inferior Water Quality

 

In 2020, among the water conservancy personnel in Weifang City, Shandong Province, a poem titled "Mihe Fu" written by Song Zhimeng from the Mihe Flood Control and Governance Project Construction Command was circulated. This poem mentions a rainstorm in July of the year of Gengxu, which was caused by Typhoon "Wipha" in 2018.

 

The reporter found through document review that the upstream of the Mihe River, a nationally monitored river flowing into the sea in Weifang City, is the center of rainstorms in Shandong Province. During the heavy rains in 2018, non-point source pollutants overflowed into the sea with the river water, exacerbating marine pollution, becoming a thorny problem for the local ecological environment department. "The heavy rains caused by Typhoons "Wipha" and "Lekima" destroyed many vegetable greenhouses along the coast of Laizhou Bay, causing a large amount of fruits and vegetables, poultry and livestock to be washed into the sea." said Liu Ruizhi, director of the State Key Laboratory of Estuary and Coastal Zone Environment of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, who has been providing long-term on-site support for Shandong's Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance Campaign.

 

Relevant research jointly conducted by the Water Department, Marine Department, Monitoring Department, Law Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, and other units, clearly pointed out that Laizhou Bay, one of the three major bays in the Bohai Sea, has become a bottleneck restricting the overall improvement of the water quality of the Bohai Sea. The main reasons include, in addition to agricultural non-point source pollutants entering the sea, poor water quality of coastal rivers, inadequate measures for river interception, sewage treatment, and dredging, and a relatively large scale of offshore aquaculture.

 

Rivers and seas are interconnected. To achieve tangible results in the comprehensive governance of the Bohai Sea, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of integrated land and sea management and joint river and sea governance. Local governments have taken action, "drawing roadmaps, setting timelines, and assigning responsibilities," ensuring that the campaign achieves visible results, involves people, and produces tangible outcomes at multiple levels.

 

Liaoning Province has taken solving the Liaohe River issue as the most important breakthrough point for improving the ecological environment of Liaodong Bay, planning and promoting the comprehensive governance of the Liaohe River Basin; Hebei Province adheres to the principle of "governing the sea first by governing the river, and governing the river first by governing pollution," incorporating all 49 rivers flowing into the sea in the province into the monitoring and assessment system, adding total nitrogen monitoring, and organizing the implementation of a special campaign to achieve standards for rivers flowing into the sea and eliminate Class V inferior water quality; Tianjin City has focused on the two key "gates" of rivers flowing into the sea and sea-inlet sewage outlets, implementing "one policy for one river" for all rivers flowing into the sea, formulating "separate policies" by region and river section, and accumulating more than 5,300 governance projects; Shandong Province has eliminated Class V inferior water quality in all 38 provincial-level and above rivers flowing into the sea, and the Provincial Ecology and Environment Department has led the organization of the analysis of land-based pollution sources entering the Laizhou Bay, implementing key tasks such as eliminating inferior water quality in rivers flowing into the sea, restoring coastal wetlands, and improving the aquaculture environment, achieving a turnaround in the water quality of the Laizhou Bay waters.

 

Liang Bin, a senior engineer at the National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, told the reporter: "Shandong Province, by investigating industries and regions with high contributions of land-based total nitrogen entering the sea, has adopted targeted and zoned measures, actively promoting the improvement of wastewater treatment capacity for urban residents' lives and livestock and poultry farming, constructing a 'land-river-sea collaborative governance' framework for the protection of the marine ecological environment of Laizhou Bay. ”

 

"Eliminating inferior water quality in rivers flowing into the sea is one of the most important and fastest-yielding target tasks in the Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance Campaign. However, 'eliminating inferior water quality' is not the ultimate goal; the ultimate goal is to use this to drive the improvement of water quality in rivers flowing into the sea, and then achieve the improvement of the ecological environment quality of the Bohai Sea." said Meng Qingjia, deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Estuary and Coastal Zone Environment.

 

Outlets Governance: Grasping the "Bull by the Horns", Promoting

Sea-Inlet Sewage Outlets "Monitoring, Source Tracing, and Rectification"

 

Located more than ten kilometers southeast of Xingcheng Ancient City in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, lies Jiao Hua Island, the largest island in Liaodong Bay. Every year, a large number of tourists visit the island to admire the ancient sites and enjoy seafood. However, while the tourism industry has driven local economic development, it has also posed a serious threat to the ecological environment of the surrounding waters of Jiao Hua Island.

 

Due to the abundance of mountainous and hilly terrain on the island, with complex elevations, it has not yet been possible to collect all sewage and rainwater into the network and factory. In the special campaign to investigate and rectify sea-inlet sewage outlets in the Bohai Sea region, 32 directly discharged pipelines and ditches were investigated on Jiao Hua Island, most of which had no treatment facilities." said a relevant person in charge of the Liaoning Provincial Ecology and Environment Department.

 

To protect the island, Huludao City actively implemented the sewage and rainwater direct discharge into the sea governance project on Jiao Hua Island, mainly divided into sewage collection and network transmission, sewage treatment plant transformation and reclaimed water treatment, and rainwater collection and utilization, rectifying the 32 investigated sewage (rainwater) outlets, achieving significant environmental, economic, and social benefits.

 

According to information provided by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the investigation and rectification of sea-inlet sewage outlets in the Bohai Sea has achieved "all that should be investigated have been investigated." Currently, a method combining "immediate rectification and long-term governance" is being used to promote source tracing and rectification, and pilot cities have basically completed monitoring, source tracing, and some rectification projects.

 

Time is tight and the tasks are heavy, but various places are taking active steps, bringing unlimited vitality to the restoration of the Bohai Sea.

 

In October 2020, the "Tangshan City In-Sea Sewage Outlet Remediation Plan" was officially issued, accelerating the classification and remediation of in-sea sewage outlets in Tangshan City. From the outset of the campaign, Tangshan City undertook the important task of investigating Bohai Sea in-sea sewage outlets, and was later designated as one of two pilot cities for the special remediation of Bohai Sea in-sea sewage outlets. Next, Tangshan City will, in accordance with the requirements of the Bohai Sea in-sea sewage outlet remediation pilot program, proceed based on its actual situation and complete the phased governance of a batch of typical sewage outlets.

 

In May 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment designated Yantai City as another pilot city for the special remediation of Bohai Sea in-sea sewage outlets. Recently, the "Yantai City In-Sea Sewage Outlet Remediation Pilot Program" was issued, clarifying that by 2022, Yantai City will comprehensively complete the remediation of in-sea sewage outlets.

 

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However, in the process of implementing the in-sea sewage outlet remediation plan, some problems still need to be addressed. "The 18,000 in-sea sewage outlets around the Bohai Sea are diverse and widely distributed, with a large proportion of sewage outlets with weak infrastructure, such as seawater aquaculture sewage outlets and rural combined sewage and rainwater outlets (ditches and canals), posing significant challenges to the remediation work. The daily supervision and management methods after the completion of the cleanup and remediation also require further in-depth research." said Yang Jing, deputy director of the Marine Ecological Environment Research Center of the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

 

Governing the Sea: Enhancing Regulatory Capacity, Strengthening Seawater

Aquaculture and Comprehensive Remediation of the Nearshore Marine Ecological Environment

 

In 2020, the proportion of excellent water quality in Tianjin's nearshore waters reached 70.4%, an increase of 53.8 percentage points compared to 2017 (before the implementation of the Bohai Sea comprehensive governance campaign), with the greatest improvement among the provinces and cities around the Bohai Sea.

 

"Tianjin's nearshore waters are located at the bottom of the Bohai Bay, with a gentle slope and shallow beaches, and water depths mostly below 10 meters. The nearshore waters have low flow rates, slow water exchange, and a long self-purification cycle. This 'shallow and slow' condition results in extremely poor conditions for the diffusion of pollutants in Tianjin's nearshore waters." Facing these challenges, Gao Xiang, director of the Marine Department of the Tianjin Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, told reporters that "adhering to integrated land and sea management and joint river and sea governance" is one of their important experiences.

 

In terms of marine pollution control, Tianjin City focuses on comprehensive remediation of the nearshore marine environment, including seawater aquaculture and ships and ports. Yangjiapo Town in the Binhai New Area is adjacent to the Hangu Salt Field, with resources such as high-salinity brine from salt pans and abundant brine shrimp. Nearly 80% of the residents of Yangjiapo Village are engaged in aquaculture. "Based on a comprehensive survey of seawater aquaculture pollution, Tianjin City is actively exploring suitable measures for treating seawater aquaculture wastewater. The Binhai New Area has taken the lead in conducting pilot research on recirculating aquaculture, achieving full coverage of wastewater treatment facilities for factory-scale seawater aquaculture." said Gao Xiang.

 

Regarding Bohai Sea ecological restoration, Zhao Jianhua, director of the Ecological Environmental Protection Department of the National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, introduced: "Comprehensive marine governance requires addressing both pollution reduction and emission reduction, and restoration and expansion. In view of the uneven progress of marine ecological restoration projects in the campaign, a combination of new and old methods is adopted, making full use of satellite remote sensing and UAV aerial photography technologies to comprehensively and timely grasp project progress, provide real-time feedback on problems and deficiencies, and ensure the smooth completion of ecological restoration tasks."

 

Liaoning Province has completed marine ecological restoration projects with high quality. Among them, the Tuanshan National Marine Park ecological restoration project was the first among more than 60 marine ecological restoration projects in the Bohai Sea to pass provincial acceptance.

 

To restore the Bohai Sea's clear waters, Hebei Province, in addition to resolutely eliminating illegal aquaculture, has comprehensively implemented the Bay Chief System, dividing the province's 487 kilometers of coastline into 98 responsibility bay sections. Each meter of coastline has a dedicated person in charge. "During the tourist season, the main bathing beaches in Beidaihe have all reached Class I seawater quality." said Zhao Jun, deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Ecology and Environment Department.

 

A relevant person in charge of the Marine Ecological Environment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment told reporters that in 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment took multiple measures to promote the governance of pollution and environmental supervision in the Bohai Sea: compiling the "Opinions on Strengthening the Ecological Environmental Supervision of Seawater Aquaculture Pollution"; three provinces and one city completed the cleanup of illegal and non-compliant seawater aquaculture; promoting the implementation of the "Marine Sanitation" work mechanism; using satellite remote sensing, UAV aerial surveying and other technical means to timely track and evaluate the progress and effectiveness of marine ecological restoration projects; achieving normalized prevention and control of marine litter pollution, etc.

 

The three-year Bohai Sea comprehensive governance campaign has achieved remarkable results, and a new look of "clear water, green shores, clean beaches, and beautiful bays" is gradually unfolding. Groups of gulls fly over the tidal flats and wetlands, and children chase seagulls on the golden beaches. There is less mud and garbage than before, and more popular internet check-in spots. As the sun rises in the east, the sea also takes on a bright color.