Interpretation of Water Quality Protection Regulations of Xizhijiang River System in Huizhou City from 2065438 to 2009

Huizhou's first local regulation, Huizhou Xizhijiang Water Quality Protection Regulations (Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations), was submitted to the Municipal People's Congress for deliberation. The introduction of the "health assessment system", a new measure for ecological protection of rivers and lakes being piloted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Water Resources, has become a highlight of the regulation innovation. It refers to finding out the existing problems and their causes from the aspects of natural form, hydrology and water resources, water quality, biological state and social service function, and putting forward the objectives and countermeasures of protection, renovation, restoration and management.

Another highlight of the "Regulations" is that it has formulated regulations that invite the public to participate in important law enforcement actions and major incident investigations, support environmental civil public interest litigation, and report ecological damage and lazy political behavior, thus ensuring the public's right to know, participate and supervise the protection and prevention of pollution in Xizhijiang to the maximum extent.

The regulation came into effect on June 1. Then let's take a look at the interpretation of the regulations!

Treat what? Harness mountains in the upper reaches and water in the lower reaches.

Deng, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress, said in explaining the regulations that the regulations were formulated in line with the concept of "harnessing mountains in the upper reaches and harnessing water in the lower reaches".

"Xizhijiang River is the second largest tributary of Dongjiang River, and it is also an important water source guarantee for people's production and life in key economic development zones and river basins in our city. The water quality protection of its water system is of great strategic significance to the water quality protection of Dongjiang and the sustainable economic and social development of our city. " In his explanation, Deng said that over the years, Huizhou City has attached great importance to the water quality protection of Xizhijiang River system, conscientiously implemented relevant laws, regulations and policies, and formulated and implemented normative documents such as the Regulations on the Management of Water Quality Protection of Xizhijiang River, which has achieved positive results. However, with the rapid development of economy and society, the water quality protection of Xizhijiang River system is facing severe challenges, including the area of upstream water conservation forest is not wide enough, the structure is unreasonable, the control of pollution sources (such as livestock pollution) needs to be strengthened, the water quality shortage begins to appear, and the ecological compensation mechanism is not perfect. The current superior law still lacks local characteristics, pertinence and operability for the water quality protection of Xizhijiang River system, so it is necessary to strengthen the protection through local legislation and enhance the protection effectiveness.

The reporter saw that the "Regulations" pointed out that it is applicable to the water quality protection of surface water bodies and underground water bodies such as the main stream, tributaries, lakes, reservoirs and channels of Xizhijiang River Basin in Huizhou.

In Huizhou, Xizhijiang River flows through Huidong County, Huiyang District and Huicheng District and then flows into Dongjiang River, with a drainage area of 4 120 square kilometers and a total population of1194,000 people. The protection of Xizhijiang directly protects the land and people's production and life safety in Huizhou about14, and indirectly benefits a wider range of people.

Who will treat it? Governments at all levels and 16 departments in the basin.

According to the regulations, the water quality protection and treatment of Xizhijiang River system mainly involves governments at all levels and their 16 departments, and their responsibilities are clearly defined.

Establish a coordination mechanism for joint defense and control

Among them, governments at all levels in the basin should set water quality protection targets, implement negative list management of industry access, and be responsible for the water environment quality in their respective administrative areas. The environmental protection department of the government at or above the county level in Xizhijiang River Basin implements unified supervision and management of the water quality protection work within its administrative area, and the departments of development and reform, water affairs and forestry are responsible for environmental supervision and management.

The most taboo of environmental protection management is the cross-management of multiple functional departments, which will lead to everyone's management and no one's management. The "Regulations" clearly stipulates this. First, the government at or above the county level in the basin is required to establish a coordination mechanism for joint prevention and control, coordinate law enforcement management, and supervise the completion of water quality protection objectives and the performance of departmental responsibilities; Second, the above-mentioned government departments responsible for environmental protection supervision and management should immediately notify or hand over the illegal acts that are not under their jurisdiction, and the handover department should notify or feedback the transfer department within 5 working days after handling them according to law.

Protection and governance are included in the assessment scope of government departments.

How to supervise the relevant government departments to implement measures? The "Regulations" propose to strengthen the supervision of governments at all levels and their relevant departments to perform their duties through assessment. The regulations stipulate that the completion of water quality protection objectives, the water quality compliance and improvement of the handover section should be included in the scope and content of the assessment. Governments at or above the county level shall report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress at the same level on the status of water environment and the completion of water environment protection objectives every year.

Among them, the clause on regional "handover water quality" stipulates that the water quality of the junction section of the main stream and main tributaries of Xizhijiang River across county-level administrative areas should reach the water quality control target of the water environment functional zone designated by the province. Water quality standards or improvement by the competent department of environmental protection of the Municipal People's government regularly announced to the public.

How to treat it? Strictly and severely punish illegal acts.

"In order to improve the enthusiasm of the upstream areas to protect the ecological environment, the regulations regard the compensation for river basin ecological protection as the most important system design, stipulate the establishment of an ecological protection compensation system and the establishment of special funds for ecological protection compensation, and give appropriate compensation to relevant organizations and individuals whose economic and social development is limited due to the responsibility of ecological protection in the upstream areas." Deng said to him:

Implement the compensation system for ecological protection

At the same time, in order to guide social forces to participate in ecological environmental protection, the regulations also stipulate that the municipal government may initiate or encourage citizens, legal persons and other organizations to set up the Xizhijiang River Basin Ecological Protection Social Fund according to law.

In addition to the ecological protection compensation system and health assessment system, the regulations put forward specific and detailed measures and requirements for ecological protection and pollution prevention from forest management and protection, ecological public welfare forest, drinking water source protection, agricultural non-point source pollution prevention, livestock and poultry breeding pollution prevention, industrial water pollution prevention, urban water pollution prevention, solid waste pollution prevention and third-party treatment.

For example, the government at or above the county level in the basin should delimit the forbidden areas for livestock and poultry breeding and announce them to the public. In terms of forest management and protection, it is proposed to encourage the planting of local broad-leaved trees with strong water conservation and soil and water conservation functions, long life, strong resistance and fast growth, and prohibit the planting of pure forests of foreign fast-growing timber forests that are not conducive to water conservation, soil and water conservation and water quality protection. The existing pure forest of exotic fast-growing timber species such as eucalyptus is planned by the municipal government, and the forest phase is gradually transformed and restored to zonal evergreen broad-leaved forest. In the prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution, the use of highly toxic and highly residual pesticides is prohibited in Xizhijiang River Basin.

Information disclosure and public supervision.

In terms of information disclosure, the "Regulations" require that information on water environmental quality, environmental monitoring and sudden environmental incidents in Xizhijiang should be disclosed in a way that is easy for the public to know, and the environmental protection department of the Municipal People's Government regularly announces to the public the water quality standards or improvements.

In addition, the relevant departments can invite citizens, legal persons or other organizations to participate in the investigation of important law enforcement actions and major events in the water quality protection of Xizhijiang River system. Citizens can report acts that pollute the water quality of Xizhijiang River and destroy the ecological environment, as well as lazy political acts of relevant departments that do not perform their duties according to law. It is also clear that all departments should reply to the whistleblower within 5 working days after checking and handling the report, and keep the relevant information of the whistleblower confidential. If the report is verified, the whistleblower shall be rewarded.

The regulations also encourage relevant organs and organizations to support relevant organizations in bringing environmental civil public interest litigation according to law by providing legal advice, legal aid, submitting written opinions and assisting in investigation and evidence collection.

The maximum fine for polluting Xizhijiang is 500,000 yuan.

In the chapter on legal responsibilities, the regulations list nine legal responsibilities in detail, including the subject of supervision, illegal planting of fast-growing forests, illegal use of pesticides and third-party governance, with a maximum fine of 500,000 yuan. However, the regulatory authorities do not investigate and deal with the environmental violations found, do not cover up, fail to pass the environmental protection assessment, and tamper with or forge the monitoring data. The directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be punished according to law, and criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law if the case constitutes a crime.

In his explanation, Deng said that when setting legal responsibilities, within the scope of legal responsibilities stipulated by the superior law, in accordance with the principle of "high is not low", we must adhere to strict and severe punishment. At the same time, give full consideration to the specific circumstances of violation of the law and the actual law enforcement, clarify the subject of law enforcement and its authority, appropriately distinguish different illegal situations, narrow the scope of administrative penalty discretion, quantify the punishment standard, and ensure the legality and scientificity of legal responsibility setting.