CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Monday, October 28, 2019 | 7 CHINA

ENVIRONMENT Cleanup program helps lake become thriving tourist hub

The rejuvenation of North China’s largest freshwater body has seen local living standards rise. Zhao Ruixue reports from Weishan county, Shandong.

ith its neat rows of land alongside the lakes, providing houses, wide, clean an efficient way of filtering harmful roads and spacious elements contained in sewage, she squares, there is little added. in Aihu, a village in the eastern pro­W According to the county’s ecology vince of Shandong, to remind older and environment bureau, after residents of life during their child­ almost three decades of pollution­ hoods. treatment efforts, the water quality “Tremendous changes have tak­ in the lakes has recovered to the lev­ en place in our village; the bumpy els seen during the 1970s, and more mud roads have been replaced with than 50 species of fish and 70 types wide, sealed ones, and electricity of plants are living and growing in and the internet are available all them. the time. When I was a child, I nev­ The lakes and the surrounding er expected that one day I would areas have been listed as a provin­ have such a modern, convenient cial­level nature reserve area, which life,” said Hu Qianle, a resident of means measures to protect the envi­ Aihu in Weishan county, Jining. ronment will be long­lasting. The village’s name means “Love the “Now, children can jump into the lake”. lake as we did when we were young,” However, one thing frequently Hu, the villager, said. takes the 58­year­old back to his The improved environment has childhood memories — the lake on brought many long­departed villag­ whose shores the village stands. ers back to their home area to start “Our village has witnessed better businesses. and better changes, but the lake has “I am raising fish and crabs in seen both bad and good changes. ponds alongside the lake with eco­ Nothing makes me happier than logically sound methods,” said knowing the condition of the lake is Zhou, adding that he made about now as good as when I was a child,” 200,000 yuan ($28,000) from his he said. business last year. Hu was talking about Weishan Jin Can, Party secretary of Aihu Lake, the largest of four intercon­ village, said the residents cherish nected bodies of water — the others the hard­won improvements, are Zhaoyang, Dushan and Nanyang because the environmental degra­ lakes. Together they form the largest dation caused suffering. freshwater lake system in North Chi­ “We have built a sewage­treat­ na, which serves as an important ment system in our village that is part of the South­North Water Diver­ designed to treat 50 metric tons of sion Project. sewage each day,” Jin said. “Now, when I row a boat to collect He added that a growing number lotus seeds and catch fish, it seems of visitors are traveling to the village as though I am back in my child­ The lake is a kind of to appreciate the lakeside scenery, hood,” he said. lifeblood for those of so the residents have established a “When I was a child, the water tourism company. was so clean that we could see fish us who live on it. We “We have also registered brands swimming down below. There were all know what it for local products such as lotus also lots of plants, such as wild water seeds. Sales have grown on our chestnuts, growing in the lake. The means to us, e­commerce store on Taobao since it lake provided us with food. Even especially after losing opened in August,” he said. during the hardest times, few peo­ it once. Protecting the ple around the lake ever starved. We Structural transformation lived on the lake.” lake is undoubtedly Environmental protection work Hu spent his life on the rich, beau­ our top priority now.” has prompted the county to trans­ tiful lake until the 1980s when the form its industrial structure from water quality started to deteriorate Hu Qianle, resident of Aihu coal production and papermaking as papermaking factories and small village, Shandong province to new energy and pharmaceutical chemical plants discharged pollu­ industries, as well as the cultural tants directly into the water. and tourism sectors. His memories were echoed by In 1996, taking advantage of “The lakes have injected vigor Zhou Shengdou, the village director, opportunities presented by the offi­ into the local tourism industry,” said who said: “At that time, making cial campaign to clean up the Huai­ Zhu Sumei, deputy director of the money was the top priority. People he River, one of China’s largest Weishan county culture and tour­ didn’t have a sense of protecting the waterways, the battle against pollu­ ism department. environment.” tion in the four lakes was given She said the county is building a fresh impetus. culture and tourism­featured eco­ Black water As a result, more than 20 paper­ nomic area around the lakes to A video clip from 1988 shows sew­ making plants, coal­fired power develop tourism into a pillar indus­ age being discharged into the lakes generators and fertilizer and try. and their feeder rivers, turning the cement factories were demolished. As the transformation continues, water black and leaving some areas In 2003, when the lakes were list­ some residents, especially those liv­ covered with foam. ed as part of the South­North Water ing on islands, are anxious about “The polluted water caused the Diversion Project, the county their livelihoods because they have plants and fish to die, leaving noth­ cleared 12,900 hectares of enclo­ had to return their ponds to the lake ing for us to eat,” said an elderly man sures used for fishing because an in a bid to keep the water clean. in the video. ingredient in the fish food caused However, they will all receive com­ Wang Yun has worked at the Wei­ pollution. pensation. shan county ecology and environ­ In addition, pollution­producing Jin said the local government is mental department since the 1980s. projects were not allowed to be providing skills training for resi­ He said that in the late part of the established within designated areas dents to help them find jobs, such as decade and the early ’90s thousands around the diversion project. teaching them to make artworks of factory outlets were scattered From top: Fish swim in Weishan Lake in Shandong province, last year. GAO QIMIN / FOR CHINA DAILY Newly built plants had to be from wheat straws, a popular form around the lakes and the 53 rivers Tourists visit the lake during the lotus flower season in July. LI ZONGXIAN / FOR CHINA DAILY equipped with systems to treat pol­ of handicraft on the art market. that feed them, discharging untreat­ Residents of Weihe village, Shandong, sort water chestnuts on a boat last month. ZHAO RUIXUE / CHINA DAILY lutants and reduce the effects of dis­ Hu, the villager, said: “The lake is ed sewage directly into the waters. charged sewage. a kind of lifeblood for those of us “The lake water stank. What I was “In addition to the normal meth­ who live on it. We all know what it most afraid of were complaints from living from the lakes, many people Fines the pollution producers in the first ods of treating pollution, we created means to us, especially after losing it villagers about the pollution killing moved into the shipping business In 1980, the local government year,” said Wang, adding that the a large expanse of wetland to filter once. Protecting the lake is their fish. It was heartbreaking to on the Grand Canal. decided to tackle water pollution, fines were quite low at the time. “To sewage before it flows into the undoubtedly our top priority now.” hear the complaints,” the 54­year­ They transported construction and started by fining companies be honest, I didn’t have any confi­ lakes,” Wang said. old said. materials, coal and glass from the that discharged pollutants. dence in treating pollution in the Wetland plants were planted Contact the writer at As there was no way of making a north to provinces further south. “We only collected 16 yuan from entire lake.” across 4,000 hectares of shallow [email protected]

The village founded a tourism organization in 2006, and devel­ Fishing industry brings fortune to island residents oped experimental projects such as picking lotus seeds and providing By ZHAO RUIXUE To reach the village from Weishan Approaching the village, visitors where they could catch fish were “It is fresh in my memory that on boat trips around the lake to expand county’s urban area, visitors need to can see boats pulled up onto the their home. the first day a lightbulb lit up our the sector. In recent years, Weihe, a village on drive to a dock and then travel shore and the residents hard at “The lake was heavily polluted boat, my family sat under it, reluc­ Sun said even seniors can make an island in Weishan Lake, has across the lake by boat. work; some knitting fishing nets, during the late 1980s and early ’90s. tant to leave until day broke,” Sun more than 100 yuan a day by picking become a well­to­do settlement, The trip is a pleasant experience, others picking water chestnuts. The fish and plants all died because recalled. water chestnuts and selling them to where the average annual per capita especially in summer and autumn. “The clean water has brought for­ of the pollution, leaving us living in He was selected as Party secretary restaurants. income is 30,000 yuan ($4,230). Accompanied by a refreshing breeze tune to us,” Sun said, adding that he poverty,” he said. of the village in 2002. Now, the thing that concerns him In the 1980s and ’90s, most of the and bird calls, visitors travel was born and grew up on the lake. He noted that Weihe was proba­ “I wondered how to make our vil­ most is the sewage produced by the residents lived on just 1,000 yuan through watercourses that have “I lived with my family on our bly the poorest village in the county lage rich. The only answer was the residents’ daily lives. per annum. large expanses of reeds on both boat, and spent all day on the lake at the time. lake,” he said. “We are planning to build a sew­ Sun Maodong, Party secretary of sides, until the boat suddenly emer­ catching fish when I was a child,” the Since the late ’90s, the lake’s envi­ “We are guiding our residents to age­management system in the vil­ Weihe, attributed people’s improved ges into a seemingly endless 56­year­old said. ronment has improved steadily, and raise fish and crabs with environ­ lage as soon as possible. We must lives to the lake and the fishing expanse of water covered by large At the time, Sun and his family in 1997, electricity became available mentally friendly methods in spare no efforts to protect the lake,” industry that is a major employer. patches of lotus. had no fixed abode, so the places on the boats for the first time. ponds.” he said.