The sewage treatment plant has been built, why is the sewage still discharged directly into the Yellow River

In Yongjing County, Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Linxia, Gansu Province, there was no sewage treatment plant in the county more than a decade ago, and domestic sewage was treated by septic tanks and discharged directly into the Yellow River. In recent years, with the completion of sewage treatment plants and pipe networks, more than 85% of the sewage in urban areas can be collected, but it is still difficult to cover all areas such as the urban and rural junction.

"The cost of pipe network construction is about 1 million yuan per kilometer, especially in the old city, there are pipe network aging, rain and pollution mixed flow problems, the cost of laying a new pipe network is very high." Yongjing County housing Bureau cadres Wang Xiaoming introduced.

With the acceleration of urbanization, the relocation of poverty alleviation in inhospitable areas, the increase of county and urban residents, the increase of sewage discharge, sewage treatment plants must also be expanded. Although local financial resources are limited, under the huge ecological and environmental pressure, "debt" expansion of sewage treatment plants has become a common choice in many underdeveloped areas.

Gao Chuncheng, director of Xinmin sewage treatment plant in Linxian County, Luliang City, Shanxi Province, introduced that due to the increase in the population living in cities and towns, the original equipment treatment capacity lags behind, so the expansion and transformation of the existing sewage treatment plant was completed in 2020, "although the transformation funds were seriously insufficient at that time, it can only start first, and then find a way to spend money later."

At the same time, the less developed areas in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River basin due to relatively low population density, low sewage concentration, coupled with low temperature and other factors, the cost of sewage treatment is much higher than that in the developed areas in the east. Some sewage treatment plants are kept running and require a daily infusion of glucose.

Li Shukun, director of Yanguoxia Town sewage treatment plant in Yongjing County, said that the town's population is small, and the water from the sewage plant mainly depends on residents' domestic water. The low COD concentration of the influent leads to insufficient carbon source when the microorganisms treat the sewage, and can only ensure that the microorganisms are not "starved to death" by adding glucose, and "three or four tons of glucose are added every month, which directly increases the treatment cost."

The reporter learned that at present, a total of 14 county sewage treatment plants in Qinghai Province are in high-altitude areas, and there are widespread problems such as low sewage concentration, low treatment efficiency, low collection rate, and insufficient rain and pollution diversion. Coupled with the low winter temperature in the Sanjiangyuan area, the sewage treatment process has brought great challenges, and it is generally necessary to warm the shed and supply heating, and some sewage treatment tons of water cost up to 4 yuan per ton.

In Xinyi Town, Lishi District, Luliang City, Shanxi Province, the completed sewage treatment plant had to be shut down because it could not afford the subsequent operation costs. Wang Sanniu, deputy mayor of Xinyi Town, said that after the completion of the sewage treatment plant, governments at all levels did not follow up to ensure the operation of funds, and the town government alone was difficult to bear the cost.

"Some sewage treatment plants were built early, the treated sewage is difficult to meet the existing discharge standards, there is no money to upgrade the equipment, and now it can only be used as septic tanks." Wang Sanniu admitted.

Sewage treatment can not "regardless of the construction of the operation"

The construction has superior capital investment, the operation depends on the level of financial investment guarantee, high operating costs of sewage treatment plants, so that many sewage treatment plants "embarrassed burden". Gander County, Qinghai Province, which got rid of poverty in April 2020, had a fiscal revenue of 16.74 million yuan at the county level in 2019. The county pays 1.5 million yuan a year for sewage treatment, accounting for nearly one-tenth of the level's fiscal revenue in 2019.

Some grassroots interviewees appealed that many less developed areas that have just taken off their hats are in ecologically fragile areas, with high pressure on ecological and environmental protection and tight local financial operation. In view of the actual financial situation in these areas, the construction and daily operation of sewage treatment plants need national policy support.

On the one hand, the investment in the construction of the sewage treatment plant itself is 12 million to 20 million yuan, and the local supporting funds are only 2 million to 4 million yuan, which can only use local fiscal revenue and expenditure, and many times the local government can only default. It is suggested that the state reduce the proportion of funds supporting these underdeveloped and restricted areas, so as to facilitate the expansion and construction of related sewage treatment and collection projects. On the other hand, urbanization in many underdeveloped areas is still in its infancy, and many regions have not yet established charging mechanisms for tap water, garbage treatment, and domestic sewage. The operating costs of sewage treatment are completely under the pressure of local fiscal expenditures, so PPP model cannot be adopted for construction. It is urgent to change the situation of "managing construction regardless of operation" of national special funds, and give certain operating fund subsidies to alleviate local financial pressure.