Guiyang prioritizes a clean environment

Guiyang, the capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province, has achieved remarkable ecological development and poverty alleviation results during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), Guiyang's bureau of ecology and environment said on Jan 7 during a press conference.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the forest coverage rate in Guiyang increased from 46.5 percent to 55 percent, while the per-capita greenery area reached 13.16 square meters from the previous 10.95 square meters.

Throughout 2020, the rate of days with good or excellent air quality in Guiyang reached 98.9 percent. Over the past five years, the rate of days with fine air quality never dipped below 95 percent. The city also met the national secondary air quality standard for four consecutive years.

The quality of drinking water sources in Guiyang reached the national standard rate of 100 percent. Also, the city's level of noise pollution remained stable.

These remarkable achievements are due to Guiyang's anti-pollution and environmental improvement campaign, which was launched in 2018.

Guiyang promoted industrial transformation and upgrading to address air pollution and attached great importance to pollution control and emission reductions.

The city's comprehensive water treatment plan traced 2,388 river outfalls and purified 29 polluted rivers. It also checked and monitored 227 pollution discharge outlets along the Wujiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.

The water quality level in sections under national and provincial control fully reached national standards. A total of 15 rivers were above Grade III, the third-highest in the country's five-tier water quality system, achieving an excellent rate of 93.75 percent.

Concerning the prevention and control of soil pollution, Guiyang surveyed the pollution of crucial industries and 199 key enterprises and planned land use for 24 companies.

Meanwhile, the utilization rate of industrial solid waste treatment in Guiyang was more than 98 percent.

The comprehensive improvement of the rural environment remains one of Guiyang's crucial concerns. A total of 612 villages were renovated, and the city's collection, transfer and processing of garbage were centralized. Also, the usage rate of rural toilets reached 91.07 percent.