Qingzhen preserving its ecological foundations

A volunteer inform villagers about environmental protection measures. [Photo/gywb.cn]

Qingzhen, a county-level city in Southwest China's Guizhou province, has been consistently devoted to balancing development and sustainability, strengthening ecological improvements and environmental preservation so as to achieve green development. 

The Qingzhen branch of Guiyang bureau of ecology and environment recently organized workers to plant trees and grass around the water source areas in Liuchang village. These areas provide drinking water to thousands of villagers, but have deteriorated in quality because of coal exploitation and littering by villagers. Landslides can also occur if the soil in these areas continues to be eroded.

Following years of cleaning and purifying work around these water source areas, the domestic sewage treatment rate now exceeds 60 percent, and the average qualification rate of drinking water is over 90 percent. 

Groups of volunteers have also participated in the ecological restoration. Volunteer Li Longlun, a villager from Dachong village, Hongfenghu town, drives his motorcycle around Hongfeng Lake to pick up waste every day. 

He is one of 200 volunteers from Qingzhen's ecological protection association - the first county-level non-profit organization in Guiyang.

In addition, third-party supervisors have been invited by Qingzhen's government to regulate enterprises' emission behaviors. 

Supervisor Lan Gaoyuan, from Guiyang public environmental education center, said that this supervision has been taking place since 2014. He goes to a local chemical plant every week, checking things such as sanitary conditions and waste gas emissions, then writes monthly reports and submits them to the Qingzhen branch of Guiyang bureau of ecology and environment.