On the afternoon of July 30th, an environmental protection riverside swimming competition was held in Chuansha Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, and more than 110 Shanghai residents competed to get into the water.
Through the application of the "zero discharge system for all-water reuse", the river channel that originally discharged domestic sewage from the factory has become a clear water river bank, which not only realizes zero discharge to the municipal sewage pipe network, but also allows the public to relive the childhood fun of swimming in the river.
On the afternoon of July 30th, an environmental protection riverside swimming competition was held in Chuansha Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. More than 110 Shanghai residents rushed into the water, and even two officials of the Pudong New Area Environmental Protection Bureau "couldn’t resist the temptation" and jumped into the river to complete the 80-meter race. Yao Haiyang, a 26-year-old boy who climbed ashore from the end of the river, said several "unexpected" words to The Paper (www.thepaper.cn). He said that he didn’t expect to swim in the river in Shanghai, and he didn’t expect his childhood memories of playing with water to be relived in Shanghai.
Riverbanks that discharge domestic sewage become clear water swimming lanes.
The natural river course for this swimming competition is 100 meters long, 8-10 meters wide and 2.2 meters deep. At one end of the river course is the starting platform covered with red carpet, and 80 meters away is the finish line made of red and white buoys.
At the competition site, a sign of "River Water Quality Test Conclusion" just issued by the environmental protection department on July 30th this year was hung in front of the departure platform: CMA authorities certified by the state sampled and tested the water quality and hygiene indicators of the river water, such as chromaticity, turbidity, pH value and total coliform. The test results showed that the measured water quality indicators met the Class I standard of surface water in the National Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water GB3838-2002, and reached the national standard at the same time.
"Many people are asking me how you came up with the idea of hosting the Riverside Swimming Competition and how you achieved this goal. In fact, it originated from the dream of a 6-year-old boy ten years ago." Qu jianguo, chairman of Shanghai Kaineng Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd., told The Paper a short story.
Ten years ago, a German customer and his son came to visit Kaineng Environmental Protection Park the day before returning home. qu jianguo showed them around the factory in the park and asked his six-year-old son, who was accompanying him, what he wanted in China? The child pointed to a river bank more than 100 meters long in the factory and blurted out, "I hope I can swim in this river bank." At that time, everyone was speechless. Looking at the disappointment of the German boy, qu jianguo promised: "When you come to China again in a few years, my uncle will definitely let you swim in this river."
Qu jianguo told The Paper that although he lost contact with this German friend later, this promise has been buried in his heart. After years of management and efforts, the natural river in this factory finally reached the surface water environmental protection standard for swimming in the river. The first Kaineng Environmental Protection River Swimming Competition came into being in the summer of 2013, and it lasted for four years.
How to achieve it technically?
A wish is a wish, but how can an ordinary natural river originating from Pudong New Area be transformed into a "clear river bank" with crystal clear water quality reaching the municipal first-class water?
"Thirty years ago, I caught up with the era of swimming in Qingshui River, but I never saw it again." Qu jianguo told The Paper that in 2012, they took the lead in launching the application of "Zero Discharge System for Water Reuse" in the environmental protection park in Chuansha. Simply put, it is to establish two sewage treatment stations in the east and north of the environmental protection park to realize full automatic control. The sewage from each unit in the park flows into the sewage treatment station through the sewage collection pipe network, and then undergoes anaerobic and aerobic degradation by microorganisms, so that the sewage reaches the treatment and discharge standards and enters the next constructed wetland ecosystem.
In the Kaineng Environmental Protection Park in Chuansha, large and small constructed wetlands and emergent plants form a unique green landscape, and there are many small sewage treatment systems hidden in the park. The water in the river swimming track is obtained from the recycling treatment of sewage, all of which is the ecological reuse of wastewater, and the environmental protection park has realized zero discharge to the municipal sewage pipe network.
“The treatment capacity of this zero-emission system can reach 100 tons/day, which is equivalent to the treatment capacity of 100 household water purification equipment. As far as technology is concerned, the system can be applied in southern China, and the difficulty of popularization mainly depends on the degree of government support and the source of funds."qu jianguo said.
Despite this, it is still not easy for the public to regain confidence in the river. Qu jianguo admitted that in 2013, when the swimming competition was held in the riverside of the factory for the first time, he took his 6-year-old grandson to jump into the river first to dispel people’s concerns about the safety and health of the river. In the first competition, only more than 30 swimmers participated in the end. With the improvement of everyone’s confidence, there are more than 100 swimmers participating in this year. "Many parents take the initiative to bring their children who are practicing swimming, let them play in the river lane and feel the joy of their parents when they were young."
Two deputy directors of Pudong New Area Environmental Protection Bureau (first from left and third from left) personally entered the river to participate in the competition.
Environmental protection officials also went into the river.
On the 30th, many people at the scene said that another signal that reassured them about the water quality was that two officials from the Environmental Protection Bureau of Pudong New Area also entered the river.
Liang Ming, the 57-year-old deputy director of the Environmental Protection Department of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Pudong New Area, signed up for the Youth Group, and won the third place in the group. He admitted to The Paper that it was "not easy" to have such a clean river bank in Pudong New Area. After all, most of the natural rivers in Shanghai still belong to Grade 5 water quality. From this perspective, the task of river bank regulation is "a long way to go".
Han Haibin, deputy director of Shanghai Pudong New Area Environmental Protection and City Appearance Sanitation Administration, revealed in an interview that, on the whole, the surface water quality of Pudong New Area ranks second in the whole city, and Chuanyang River, Zhangjiabang River and heqing town River, which have been vigorously regulated, have begun to reach Class III water quality. The natural rivers in Pudong New Area have reversed from 60% of the original water quality failing to meet the standard to 71.8% of the rivers meeting the requirements of surface water functional zoning in June this year. "After the renovation of Zhangjiabang, the water quality has been greatly improved, showing the great changes of smelly water bang, Qingshui River and landscape river, and it has become the first ecological landscape river in Shanghai. It is estimated that by 2020, there will be more and more rivers like Zhangjiabang and Kaineng Park. "
However, there is still an essential difference between river regulation and swimming in the river. Qu jianguo said, for example, the water quality of Suzhou River has bid farewell to the black smell and reappeared the clean water after vigorous rectification, but the dragon boat race is ok, and swimming in the river is still not up to the requirements. "In addition to the complexity of the river water body and potential safety hazards, whether the water quality of the river source can meet the national drinking water standard is also one of the decisive factors. Only when the water quality in the river reaches the level where rice can be washed and vegetables washed directly as in the past, swimming in the river can be called safe for human health."
