From paying attention to water quality to paying attention to water ecology —— Directly attacking the "physical examination" of the Yangtze River
"This is the lake area, and there is a risk of contracting schistosomiasis. Don't touch the water with your arms. " 13 At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of May, at Dongting Lake in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Han, the post-90 s squad leader, clung to the boathouse and pulled the mud collector up from the bottom of the water under the reminder of his colleagues. The weight of forty or fifty kilograms of mud collectors and sediment made his face red.
Han comes from the Ecological Environment Monitoring and Research Center of the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision Administration of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and is also a staff member of the pilot monitoring of water ecological assessment in the Yangtze River Basin in the spring of 2023.
In April this year, under the leadership of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the pilot monitoring of water ecological assessment in the Yangtze River Basin was launched in the spring of 2023. Within two months, the monitoring personnel of the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision Administration and other units will conduct comprehensive water ecological monitoring at 33 1 point in the main stream, key tributaries and key lakes and reservoirs of the Yangtze River from Qinghai to Shanghai, find out the water ecological base of the Yangtze River, and make a "big physical examination" for the mother river of the Yangtze River.
According to the job requirements, the main task of Han and his colleagues is to collect samples of macrobenthic invertebrates and zooplankton. "These creatures are important indicators of water ecological health. Large benthic invertebrates, although called' large', are actually not large, and some species are only a few millimeters in size, but they are very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions such as hydrology, water quality and climate, and are called' underwater sentinels'. " Han introduced.
In recent years, with the continuous promotion of the great protection of the Yangtze River, the ecological environment protection in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has turned a corner and the ecological environment quality has been continuously improved. "The water quality is constantly improving, and the section ratio of Class III water quality exceeds 98%, which means that to' portrait' the health status of the Yangtze River, in addition to using the traditional physical and chemical indicators of water quality, it also needs to rely on higher-level water ecological monitoring." Xu, director of the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision Administration, said that China plans to take the lead in establishing a water ecological assessment mechanism in the Yangtze River Basin, and to establish this mechanism, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive "physical examination" of the Yangtze River.
According to reports, in order to more accurately grasp the water ecological status of the Yangtze River and lay a foundation for the water ecological evaluation of the Yangtze River Basin, this year, the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision Administration added two indicators, namely river epiphytic algae and lake phytoplankton, which enriched the monitoring dimension.
Xu said that from paying attention to water quality in the past to paying attention to water ecological changes now, carrying out water ecological monitoring as the "big physical examination" of the Yangtze River itself is progress and innovation, which indicates that the main task of ecological environmental protection in the Yangtze River has shifted from water pollution prevention to water ecological environmental protection and restoration.