On April 2, 2022, the State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on State Council policies, introducing the relevant information of the "Implementation Opinions of the State Council General Office on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of River and Sea Discharge Outlets" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Opinions"). In order to promote and implement the "Implementation Opinions", the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has organized a series of interpretations of the "Implementation Opinions". Today, the first article titled "Implementing Full Chain Control of Pollutant Discharge Outlets and Deepening the Battle for Blue Water Defense" was launched.
The discharge outlet into the river and sea (hereinafter referred to as the "discharge outlet") is an important node for the protection of the ecological environment of the watershed and sea area. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to the rectification of sewage outlets and the interception and treatment of pollution. In 2018, the Party and state institutional reform transferred the management responsibility for the establishment of river sewage outlets to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, laying the foundation for connecting the shore and water, land and ocean. The General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of Pollutant Discharge Outlets into Rivers and Seas" (State Council Letter [2022] No. 17), which focuses on continuously improving the ecological environment quality of river basins and sea areas, and proposes reform measures for "inspection, measurement, tracing, treatment, and management" of pollutant discharge outlets. This is of great significance for effectively controlling the discharge of pollutants into rivers and seas, improving the quality of water ecological environment, and building a beautiful China.
1、 Strengthening the supervision and management of sewage outlets is conducive to achieving water land coordination, creating a high-quality life through high-level protection, and promoting the construction of a beautiful China where humans and nature coexist harmoniously
Strengthening the supervision and management of sewage outlets is an important means to address the prominent water ecological environment issues of concern to the people and promote the construction of ecological civilization. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally planned, deployed, and promoted the construction of ecological civilization, and pointed out that solving prominent environmental problems strongly reflected by the people is not only an urgent need to improve the environment and people's livelihoods, but also an urgent task to strengthen the construction of ecological civilization. For many years, as a key node connecting the shore and the water, the sewage outlet has become a "pain point" and "blockage point" in water pollution control. The discharge of "foul water," "black water," and "rainbow water" from sewage outlets has always been a prominent water environment issue that has been strongly reflected by the people, greatly affecting their intuitive sense and happiness. The Implementation Opinions focus on the issue of river discharge into the sea, propose classified measures and systematic rectification requirements, and provide guidance for the continuous improvement of water ecological environment quality.
Strengthening the supervision and management of sewage outlets is an important task to enhance the coordinated governance of land and sea pollution and support the deepening of the battle to defend the clear waters. In the special operation to inspect and rectify the discharge outlets of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Chishui River and Bohai Sea, we found that the discharge outlets not only have a large quantity and wide coverage, covering multiple fields such as industry, agriculture and life, but also have problems such as unclear sewage sources, unclear responsible parties, and inadequate supervision during and after the incident. To this end, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Battle of Pollution Prevention and Control clearly propose to strengthen the coordinated governance of land and sea pollution, and continue to carry out "inspection, measurement, tracing, and treatment" of sewage outlets. The Implementation Opinions further clarify the investigation requirements of "investigating every mouth and conducting all necessary investigations" and the rectification requirements of "lawfully banning one batch, cleaning up and merging one batch, and regulating one batch", providing direction for the investigation and rectification of pollutant discharge outlets and regulating pollutant discharge behavior, effectively supporting the deep entry to fight the battle for the protection of clear waters.
Strengthening the supervision and management of sewage outlets is an important measure to establish a pollution source control system, implement comprehensive governance, systematic governance, and source control. The problem of water pollution is manifested in the water, and its root lies on the shore. Eliminating black and odorous water bodies requires sustained efforts over a long period of time. The reform of supervision and management of sewage outlets has seized the "bull's nose" of water pollution control, providing an opportunity for "standing in the water and looking at the shore", promoting the coordination of water and land, and determining the shore based on water. The Implementation Opinions put forward specific requirements for the rectification of existing sewage outlets, incremental review, and daily supervision. The responsible parties for sewage outlets should carry out self-monitoring, regular inspections and maintenance of sewage pipelines, be responsible for source control, sewage outlet rectification, standardized construction, maintenance and management, and other specific work. This is conducive to implementing comprehensive governance, systematic governance, and source control requirements, accelerating the modernization of the ecological environment governance system and governance capacity.
2、 The Implementation Opinions propose to establish a comprehensive supervision and management system for the entire process of "receiving water bodies - discharge outlets - discharge channels - discharge units", guiding the deepening of the reform of discharge outlet setting and management
The Implementation Opinions have established a pollution source management system framework with sewage outlets as the starting point. The Implementation Opinions are an important component of the top-level design framework for ecological environment protection during the 14th Five Year Plan period. They systematically design the requirements for the supervision and management of sewage outlets in the Opinions on Deepening the Battle of Pollution Prevention and Control and the 14th Five Year Plan for Ecological Environment Protection. They are the "construction drawings" and "roadmap" for promoting the reform of sewage outlet supervision and management. The Implementation Opinions have identified the positioning of the supervision and management of sewage outlets in the protection of water ecological environment, and proposed top-level design requirements for the formulation of regulations and technical specifications for the supervision and management of sewage outlets in the regulatory system; Propose monitoring and supervision requirements for the entire process of pre event, during event, and post event in the management system; Propose technical requirements for analyzing and identifying the spatial distribution and discharge patterns of sewage outlets on the water quality of receiving water bodies in the technical system, in order to further enhance the pertinence, scientificity, and effectiveness of water pollution control, and promote the modernization of water environment governance capabilities.
The Implementation Opinions put forward the overall idea of deepening the reform of sewage outlet setting and management. The Implementation Opinions adhere to precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and law based pollution control. It proposes that the reform work should focus on improving the quality of the ecological environment, establish and improve a long-term supervision and management mechanism with clear responsibilities, reasonable settings, and standardized management, and effectively control the discharge of pollutants into rivers and seas as the overall goal. The Implementation Opinions point out that we must adhere to the coordinated planning of water and land, determine the shore based on water, and force the treatment of pollution sources on the shore according to the ecological environment function of the receiving water body, and open up the whole process supervision and management chain of "receiving water body - sewage outlet - sewage channel - sewage unit"; We must adhere to clear responsibilities and strict supervision, implement the responsibilities and obligations of national, river basin, provincial, and municipal management departments, and clarify the responsible parties for each sewage outlet; We must adhere to unified requirements and differentiated management, with the state formulating overall technical standards and local governments issuing specific implementation plans to ensure the unity of policy frameworks while giving local governments autonomy to carry out pilot explorations; We must adhere to highlighting key points and implementing them step by step, with a focus on the investigation and rectification of sewage outlets in the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Bohai Sea and other river basins and sea areas. After forming mature experience, we will gradually promote it to all parts of the country.
The Implementation Opinions specify the phased goals for 2023 and 2025. The Implementation Opinions have proposed phased goals for the supervision and management of pollutant discharge outlets covering the whole country by river basin and sea area. Considering the need for protection and restoration of the Yangtze River, the Implementation Opinions propose to take the lead in promoting monitoring, tracing, and remediation of the Yangtze River's discharge outlets, establishing and improving management mechanisms, and gradually expanding the management scope to all parts of the country. By the end of 2023, complete the investigation of sewage outlets in seven major river basins, important tributaries, key lakes, and key bays, and promote the remediation of sewage outlets in the Yangtze River, Yellow River main streams, important tributaries, and Bohai Sea area. In addition to completing the investigation of all sewage outlets within seven river basins and nearshore waters by 2025, and basically completing the task of rectifying sewage outlets in the main streams, important tributaries, key lakes, and key bays of seven river basins, it is also proposed to establish a comprehensive regulatory system, a scientific technical system, and an efficient management system for sewage outlets, providing institutional guarantees for achieving long-term supervision and management of sewage outlets.
3、 The Implementation Opinions are based on seeking progress while maintaining stability, using innovative means to clarify the situation, consolidate responsibilities, carry out orderly rectification, streamline administration and delegate powers, and unleash the dividends of reform
The Implementation Opinions are problem oriented and build a set of classified supervision and management systems for sewage outlets that cover various types of sewage, bridging the past and future. The ecological environment department has previously focused on regulating traditional point sources such as industrial enterprises and sewage treatment plants, but has insufficient supervision of other sewage sources that affect water quality, such as agriculture, rural areas, urban rainwater and floods. The Implementation Opinions have expanded the scope of sewage outlets in accordance with the principle of "checking all outlets and conducting all necessary inspections", achieving full coverage of sewage outlet inspections and including various pollution sources that affect the water environment in the supervision and management system. The next step should be to follow the idea of trial and error and overcome difficulties, further consolidate the supervision and management foundation of industrial sewage outlets and urban sewage treatment plant sewage outlets, and actively explore effective supervision measures such as agricultural sewage outlets and urban rainwater and flood discharge outlets.
The Implementation Opinions clarify the responsible parties and attempt to break through the external problems of water pollution control. The Implementation Opinions propose to promote the investigation and traceability of pollutant discharge outlets in accordance with the principle of "whoever pollutes, who controls", clarify the responsible parties of pollutant discharge outlets one by one, and consolidate the responsibilities of source control, pollutant discharge outlet rectification, standardized construction, maintenance and management to specific pollutant discharge units, further clarifying the affiliation and responsibility bearing methods between pollutant discharge outlets and pollutant discharge units. At the same time, in response to the problem of "no one finding the owner" and "no one taking responsibility" for some sewage outlets, the "Implementation Opinions" propose the government's bottom line principle. For some sewage outlets with unclear affiliation and lack of ability to bear the burden of polluters, the local county-level or city level people's government will be the responsible subject, or designated by them to carry out rectification and supervision management, exploring ways to consolidate the responsibility of local people's governments to solve the "tragedy of the commons". In addition, the "Implementation Opinions" propose to establish a national coordinated, provincial responsible, and city county implemented mechanism for the supervision and management of sewage outlets, strengthen the cooperation and coordination of various industry departments of the same level people's government, ensure that there are people in charge and those responsible, and require all relevant departments to actively cooperate in accordance with their work responsibilities, implement the requirements of "managing development must manage environmental protection, managing production must manage environmental protection", and form a joint force.
The Implementation Opinions adhere to the principle of putting the interests of the masses first, eliminate problems such as "inaction" and "disorderly behavior", and promote the investigation and rectification work in a pragmatic manner. The Implementation Opinions put forward the requirements of seeking truth from facts, being steady and orderly in rectification, and properly resolving historical legacy issues, avoiding surprise attacks, and eliminating "one size fits all" behaviors such as "all shutdowns" and "stop before proceeding". Regarding the rectification of sewage outlets in public institutions, residential areas, and other areas closely related to people's lives, it is proposed to consider avoiding harm to the vital interests of the people; For enterprises and institutions that face difficulties in completing the renovation of their sewage outlets in the short term, it is proposed to set a reasonable transition period and provide guidance and assistance in carrying out the renovation. If the closure of merged river discharge outlets may affect flood control, drainage, and embankment safety, measures must be taken in accordance with laws and regulations to eliminate safety hazards.
The Implementation Opinions insist on creating a good business environment, based on serving the overall economic and social development, and propose requirements for streamlining administration and delegating power in the review of pollutant discharge outlet settings. The Implementation Opinions implement the requirements of "streamlining administration and delegating powers", propose to delegate approval authority, and reduce the burden on enterprises. By further delegating the authority to determine hierarchical review to provincial ecological environment departments, we aim to optimize the business environment and promote local economic and social development. The Implementation Opinions propose that the environmental impact assessment documents shall be reviewed and approved by the national government for the establishment of river discharge outlets for construction projects, as well as for the setting of river discharge outlets located in provincial buffer zones, international or border rivers and lakes, and those with inter provincial disputes. The relevant basin (sea area) ecological environment supervision and management bureaus of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment shall be responsible for implementation; The setting of river discharge outlets that may affect flood control, water supply, embankment safety, and river stability requires consultation with relevant basin management agencies or water administrative departments with management authority. The Implementation Opinions require simplifying the approval process, implementing "Internet plus" supervision, allowing more data to run errands and less people to run errands. Relying on the pollution discharge outlet information platform to manage, investigate and rectify, set up review and filing, daily supervision and management of pollution discharge outlet information, establish a dynamic management ledger, strengthen data sharing with information platforms such as pollution discharge permits and environmental impact assessments, achieve interconnectivity, and promote the improvement of the informationization level of the pollution source management system.
The reform of supervision and management of sewage outlets is of great significance, with arduous tasks, high technical requirements, and a wide scope of involvement. We should adhere to the principle of stability as the top priority and strive for progress while maintaining stability. The next step is to maintain strategic determination, focus on target tasks, strengthen technological support, fully promote the implementation of the Implementation Opinions, continuously improve the quality of the ecological environment, and make new and greater contributions to building a beautiful China.
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