Learning power | Nanming Rive in Guiyang: The Distributed Sunken Reclaimed Water Ecosystem empowers water environment management

On July 7, Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023 - the theme forum of "Technology-driven Development" was held in Guiyang International Ecological Conference Center. More than 10 top experts and scholars from home and abroad, including 7 academicians from the two Academies and 2 foreign academicians, were invited to this forum to exchange ideas and discuss topics related to karst ecological environments and resource utilization, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, as well as water pollution prevention and control. Hou Feng, the Chairman of China Water Environment, was invited to attend the conference and shared the Nanming River project as a "Guiyang Model" with domestic and international guests.

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In recent years, there has been certain progress in the management and protection of the water ecological environment in karst regions. In Guiyang, the Nanming River has pioneered the use of a distributed sunken reclaimed water ecosystem for comprehensive management at the urban scale, becoming a model for mountainous urban river governance characterized by "clear waters, green shores, fish swimming near the surface, and egrets soaring".

Hou Feng, Chairman of the Board of the China Water Environment Group, gave a keynote speech

Hou Feng explained that over 80% of Guiyang's landscape is karst topography. The city faces water scarcity and has limited flat land, making "not even three feet of flat ground". This terrain poses significant challenges to pipeline network construction, requiring substantial investment, high operational costs, and complicating water distribution. It greatly challenges the planning, design, and construction of sewage treatment plants.

"With the support of provincial and city governments and experts, we conducted eight months of research to thoroughly understand the root causes of severe pollution in the Nanming River and how to effectively address them. We proposed a policy of 'government-led, mechanism innovation, legal governance, scientific and technological support, comprehensive participation, and sustainable and long-term cleanliness'. We treated the comprehensive environmental remediation of the Nanming River as a systematic project, coordinating the integration of factories, networks, and rivers. Innovatively, we adopted a distributed sunken reclaimed water system, treating sewage as a secondary urban resource to achieve both environmental management and resource utilization goals," said Hou Feng.

Hou Feng indicated that the innovation and implementation of the group's technological system originated with the Nanming River. The management of the Nanming River has become "the first international urban-scale innovative practice of a distributed sunken reclaimed water ecosystem", contributing the "Guiyang Model" to the governance of urban mother rivers.

The technical achievements of this system have been included in six national technical catalogs. It has been successfully implemented in 22 provinces and cities, including Dali Erhai, Beijing's Sub-Center, Shanghai Jiading, Zhejiang Ningbo, and Chengdu Tianfu, forming a series of significant national demonstrations. It is recommended as an urban green new infrastructure technology by five ministries, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Furthermore, it has been successfully selected as part of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization's global green technology innovative solutions. This technology system stood out among 203 projects in 52 countries last September, making it the sole Chinese water company to win the 2022 International Water Association (IWA) Innovation Award.