The Proportion of Excellent Sea Water Area in Offshore Waters of the City Reaches 94% in Spring and Summer

From: Lianyungang Updated: 2025-10-12 09:10

Recently, the journalist learned from the Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau that the proportion of excellent (Class I and Class II) sea water area in the city’s offshore waters during spring and summer this year was 94%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the annual assessment target. Notably, the proportion of excellent sea water area in the offshore waters during spring reached 100%. A relevant official from the Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau stated that since the beginning of this year, the city has taken the construction of beautiful bays as the main focus, concentrated on prominent marine ecological environment issues, and firmly implemented precise, scientific, and law-based pollution control measures to promote cleaner water, cleaner beaches, more beautiful bays, and a more harmonious coexistence between humans and the sea in offshore areas.

New breakthroughs are made in the supervision capacity of sewage outfalls into the sea. Strengthening the governance and supervision of sewage outfalls into the sea is of great significance in reducing the pressure of pollutant discharge into the sea from coastal areas at the source, promoting the construction of beautiful bays, and ensuring the safety of the marine ecological environment. In accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the city has actively carried out the investigation of all sewage outfalls into the sea within the offshore waters. All 398 sewage outfalls on the seaward side identified in the city-wide investigation have been completely rectified, and all sewage outfalls in use have completed registration. Meanwhile, the city has also actively carried out the standardized construction of sewage outfalls into the sea, installed identification signs for sewage outfalls in use, developed and built an information management platform for sewage outfalls into the sea, and is currently constructing video surveillance and flow monitoring systems for key sewage outfalls into the sea. These efforts enable the identification and automatic alarming of abnormal water discharge, shifting from passive response to active prevention and control, and achieving “forward” and “pre-positioned” supervision.

Remarkable achievements are made in “pollutant reduction and nitrogen reduction” in rivers flowing into the sea. The city has adopted the approach of “addressing water issues on land and joint treatment of marine issues” to promote the total nitrogen control in rivers flowing into the sea. It has implemented a series of governance measures, including the treatment of industrial sewage and agricultural non-point source pollution, and formulated total nitrogen control and management plans tailored to each river, coordinating the implementation of 337 key pollution control projects. As of September this year, the total nitrogen concentration in 12 rivers flowing into the sea has decreased by 9.3% compared with the same period in 2020.

Initial success can be seen in the circular governance of marine litter. Marine litter, especially plastic litter pollution, not only affects people’s beach-going experience but also damages the marine ecological environment and threatens marine biodiversity. The city conducts regular monthly drone inspections of marine litter and has established a garbage governance mechanism featuring “problem identification - problem assignment - rectification implementation”. As of August, the garbage coverage rate in the city has dropped to 1.12‰, a 64.8% decrease from June, reaching a basically clean level. The city has deepened the “Blue Circulation” model, built the “Blue House” demonstration project at Qingkou Fishing Port in Ganyu District, equipped with a sorting warehouse, achieving the integration of multiple functions such as garbage recycling, public beach cleaning, and environmental education. It has also cooperated with Sinopec Resource Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. to promote the full-chain disposal of marine litter, including “recycling – R&D – productization”, and create a resource utilization path with “Lianyungang characteristics”.

Marine publicity efforts are continuously enhanced. This year, the city has continuously carried out activities such as “Caring Beaches”, “Cleaning Beaches and Patrolling Rivers Hand in Hand with the Lei Feng Van”, “Feathers at Haizhou Bay - Beautiful Lianyungang (Bird) Photography Competition”, the 2025 Marine Protection Beach Cleaning Activity and the “Beautiful Jiangsu—Rivers, Lakes, and Seas Blue Journey” Marine Chapter, and the 9th National Beach Cleaning Public Welfare Activity. Twenty-four enterprises and institutions and over 500 volunteers have participated in the adoption of caring beaches, conducted 51 public beach cleaning activities, and cleared approximately 15 tons of beach litter. The reports on the 2025 Marine Protection Beach Cleaning Activity and the “Beautiful Jiangsu—Rivers, Lakes, and Seas Blue Journey” activity have been reposted by more than 10 mainstream media outlets at home and abroad and have received praise from the Chinese Consulate General in Strasbourg, demonstrating the combined efforts of the government, the public, and the international community in marine protection.