This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. To mark the occasion, we are publishing a series of reports celebrating the city’s achievements in different aspects over the past four decades.

DASHAHE River, which originates from Yangtai Mountain in northwestern Shenzhen, looks like a meandering jade belt from a bird’s-eye view. Vibrant scenes full of life are seen on the banks of the 13.7-kilometer river, which runs through Nanshan District until it merges with Shenzhen Bay.

Dashahe River, once plagued by pollution, is one of the 159 rivers in Shenzhen that have taken on a new look, thanks to the city government’s unremitting efforts to eliminate all polluted bodies of water within the city, southcn.com reported.

Shenzhen’s achievements in water pollution treatment and hard work were recognized. In 2019, Shenzhen was rated by the State Council as one of the five cities with significant improvement in water environment quality in key river valleys.

“Before 2011, illegal discharge of sewage and sludge on the banks of Dashahe River was rampant, and there were a lot of garbage and objects floating on the river,” Dai Jiali, who was responsible for the inspection of Dashahe River and the cleaning of the water surface, recalled.

Dai said although illegal discharge of pollutants into the river disappeared after 2011, the river was still very odorous and it was no exaggeration to say that passers-by would cover their noses when passing by.

Urgent actions were needed to improve the water quality of Dashahe River. Shenzhen Water Engineering Construction Management Center, a subsidiary of the Shenzhen Municipal Water Affairs Bureau, started to build culverts on both sides of the river to intercept sewage in 2013.

At the end of June 2018, all 744 communities in the area had achieved rainwater and sewage diversion. At present, only 20 urban villages in the city are on the way to realize rainwater and sewage diversion.

But a cleaner river is not enough. The fact that Dashahe River is clean again is undoubtedly uplifting news, but improvements need to be the “new norm.”

“We covered the banks with new soil and planted flowers and grass to make the area more beautiful, rather than using lifeless concrete,” said Zhu Wenchao, director of the Dashahe River water pollution treatment project.

(Zhang Yu)