Five Problems in Dealing with Heavy Metal Pollution in Qujing Reservoir, Yunnan Province

The Qujing Municipal Government held a press conference on the 4th to respond to five questions raised by public opinion about the "chromium slag pollution incident" in luliang county, Qujing City.

Question 1: Is the water quality of the Pearl River affected by the "chromium slag pollution incident"? Response: The hexavalent chromium in the water near the chromium slag yard exceeded the standard, and the water quality at Nanpanjiang outlet reached the standard.

Yang, director of Qujing Environmental Protection Bureau, said that after the chromium slag pollution incident, the environmental protection department set up five monitoring sections in Qujing section of Nanpanjiang River to track and monitor the water quality. Up to now, the monitoring results show that the content of hexavalent chromium in five monitoring sections is within the normal standard range, and the water quality of the exit section of Qujing City in Nanpanjiang River reaches the second-class standard of GB3838-2002 "Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water".

The environmental protection department of Qujing City tracked and monitored the Nanpanjiang 10 section near the chromium slag yard of Luliang Chemical Co., Ltd., and the results showed that the hexavalent chromium in some sections near the chromium slag yard exceeded the standard in some periods since August 12. Excessive hexavalent chromium is mainly caused by a small amount of leachate from chromium slag flowing into Nanpanjiang River. At present, the chromium slag heap near Nanpanjiang River has been treated for seepage prevention. From September/KLOC-0 to September 3, the follow-up monitoring showed that the hexavalent chromium in the section 200 meters downstream of Nanpanjiang chromium slag yard to Tianshengqiao exit did not exceed the standard.

Question 2: Are vegetables supplied to Hong Kong and local drinking water in Qilin District and luliang county polluted? Response: There is no pollution after testing.

Chen Jun, member of the Standing Committee of Qujing Municipal Committee and deputy mayor, said that at present, Qujing has four vegetable bases for Hong Kong, namely Qujing Lvlian Hi-tech Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., Le Yi Fruit and Vegetable Qujing Co., Ltd., Tang Sheng Vegetable Professional Cooperative and Luliang Pastoral Food Co., Ltd. According to the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture for rapid detection of organophosphorus and carbamate pesticide residues in vegetables, Lvlian, Le Yi and Tang Sheng have been tested by the Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center (Kunming) of the Ministry of Agriculture. Up to now, the statutory testing items have not been tested. Tianyuan Food Co., Ltd. was inspected by the Technical Center of Yunnan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, and no chromium was detected.

The drinking water of three waterworks in Qujing, Yuezhou, Sanbao and Luliang in Qilin District was tested. The results show that it meets the water quality standard stipulated by the national sanitary standard for drinking water.

Question 3: Is there any problem in the supervision of chromium slag treatment by the environmental protection department? Response: Supervision is really not in place.

Chen Jun said that since the former State Environmental Protection Administration issued and implemented the Technical Specification for Environmental Protection of Chromium Slag Pollution Control, environmental protection departments at all levels in Qujing City have taken a series of measures to strengthen the supervision of chromium slag treatment enterprises and prevent possible pollution, and achieved certain results. However, in actual operation, the environmental protection department failed to supervise enterprises to strictly implement the relevant provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Joint Documents of Hazardous Wastes Transfer, which gave illegal carriers an opportunity and led to the chromium slag pollution incident. This shows that the environmental protection department does have inadequate supervision, bad circumstances, serious consequences and profound lessons in the supervision process.

Question 4: Is there any concealment in the illegal dumping of "612" chromium slag? Response: Non-subjective concealment is a work mistake, and Qujing Municipal Government apologizes to the society.

Chen Jun introduced that after the incident, the relevant departments of Qujing City promptly launched an emergency plan for emergency disposal, so that the incident was basically properly handled and the situation was basically controlled. Subjectively, there is no intention to conceal or not report the incident in the process of handling. Because this incident did not cause casualties and major water pollution, Qujing municipal government did not release information to the society in time, which exposed the shortcomings of insufficient experience in dealing with emergencies and sloppy work, which was a work mistake. Chen Jun apologized to the society on behalf of Qujing Municipal Government. Chen Jun said that in the future work, he will release information to the society in a timely, accurate and true manner, consciously accept social supervision, and build a sunny government.

Question 5: How will Qujing view the regional restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on Qujing's industrial construction projects? Response: Seriously rectify and strive for an early "lifting of the ban"

It is understood that on September 1 day, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced that environmental protection departments at all levels would suspend the acceptance and approval of environmental impact assessments of all industrial construction projects in Qujing City. Chen Jun said that the regional approval restrictions put forward stricter requirements for Qujing's environmental protection work. Qujing will intensify the rectification, strictly control the project access, strictly regulate the hazardous waste management activities, quickly and properly solve the problems left over from the history of stockpiling chromium slag, make every effort to solve the hidden dangers of heavy metal pollution, make timely and strict rectification according to the requirements of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, greatly enhance the environmental supervision ability, effectively ensure environmental safety, and strive to "lift the ban" as soon as possible.