In late January 2018, SIP Lvse Jiangnan Public Environment Concerned Centre (hereinafter referred to as “PECC”) received a report from residents of Zhaji Village, Wangting Town, Suzhou City, that an enterprise had discharged sewage into the river near Dagoutou, and the river was surrounded by farmland, which seriously affected the health of local people and the ecological environment.
After receiving the report, PECC’s staffs went to the site many times to conduct research. By checking the geographical location, it can be seen that the straight-line distance between the sewage outlet and Wangyu River is 1 km, and the straight-line distance from Taihu Lake is 2.3 km. The specific location is shown in the figure below:
Figure 1: The geographical location of the sewage outlet
On February 6th, 2018, PECC conducted an on-site investigation and found that two sewage outlets were discharging sewage into the river. As shown in the figures below, the discharge outlet 1 is discharging milky white sewage, and the discharge outlet 2 is discharging brown sewage. Part of the sewage is intertwined, and the color of the river water is distinct.
Figure 2: Two sewage outlets
Figure 3: Milky white sewage discharged from outlet 1
Figure 4: Brown sewage discharged from outlet 2
PECC’s staffs conducted a research along the flow of the sewage outlet and found milky white sewage in the ditches of the nearby farmland, but it was difficult to identify the enterprise that discharged the sewage. Subsequently, according to the specific location of the sewage outlet and the flow of sewage, PECC initially found that the suspected sewage enterprise was Heyi (Suzhou) New Packaging Materials Co., Ltd.
Figure 5: Milky white sewage discharged from the ditch near the sewage outlet
Figure 6: The suspected enterprise that discharged sewage
On February 7th, 2018, PECC submitted the “Research Report on Water Pollution in Zhaji Village, Wangting Town, Xiangcheng, Suzhou” to the environmental protection department.
On March 2nd, 2018, PECC called the Environmental Protection Bureau of Xiangcheng District, and the Xiangcheng District Monitoring Brigade replied that the pollution source had been checked and the source of the pollutants had been basically determined, while the personnel of the Monitoring Brigade invited PECC to observe the pollution treatment.
On March 6th, 2018, the staff of PECC and the Environmental Protection Bureau went to the site and related enterprises to conduct research. The outlet of brown pollution source has been completely blocked, and the milky white pollution is from the rainwater outlet of Tongling Metal Market. This area is already in the remediation stage.
。
Figure 7: The clogged sewage outlet
Figure 8: Go to the relevant enterprise for inspection
Figure 9: Both outlets have stopped discharging sewage
On March 19th, 2018, the relevant staff of the Xiangcheng District Environmental Protection Bureau sent a reply to the relevant situation in the form of an email to PECC. The specific content is shown below.
Figure 10: The reply from Xiangcheng Environmental Protection Bureau
This project called “Virtuously Cooperate with the Government to Control Environmental Pollution” is a project of Blue Defenders
Thanks to Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology (SEE) for its financial support. The content and opinions in this article only represent the author’s personal views and have nothing to do with the position or policies of SEE.