Pingyao county government officials hold a meeting on engineering of the Fenhe River basin on Oct 15. [Photo/pingyao.gov.cn]

Pingyao county government officials held a meeting on engineering of Fenhe River basin on Oct 15. 

Details and existing problems in four key projects related to Fenhe River basin treatment and the basin's protection were explained and discussed at the meeting. 

Shi Yong, the head of Pingyao county, stressed that the prevention and control of water pollution is urgent and all relevant government departments should attach great importance to it. 

Shi said that on one hand, it is necessary to strengthen water quality monitoring, thoroughly solve the problems of excessive discharge of industrial wastewater, domestic sewage and high-concentration slaughter wastewater. 

On the other hand, it is necessary to speed up the construction of the project and accelerate the  construction of the Ruisi Wastewater Treatment Plant, the treatment of Liugen River downstream and the construction of the wetlands project in Pingyao at the Fenhe River basin. 

Fenhe River, the second biggest tributary of the Yellow River and the largest river in Shanxi province, flows through 29 counties and districts. It flows through the cities of Xinzhou, Taiyuan, Lyuliang, Jinzhong, Linfen and Yuncheng in the province, extending 716 kilometers and covering a drainage-basin area of 39,721 square kilometers. 

Officials said that since the 1980s, the ecological environment of the Fenhe River basin has been destroyed. 

The problem of decreasing surface water volumes and decline in groundwater levels has restricted the sustainable development of the province’s economy. 

In December 2018, Shanxi launched the Fenhe River Ecological Restoration Project. According to the plan, by 2020 the main streams of the river will not dry up, and the water quality rate will reach 60 percent.