Strengthen Prevention and Control of Phosphorus Pollution in

Typical Areas and Improve Water Quality

Yaling Liu, Wenjing Zhang, Shuojia Peng, Han Gao and Qiang Wang

Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, Beijing, 100012, China

Keywords: total phosphorus, Yangtze River

Abstract: In recent years, phosphorus pollutant has become the primary pollutant of surface water in the key national

lakes, reservoirs and the Yangtze River economic belt. Phosphorus pollution has become the major problem

for water pollution prevention and control in some regions, and becomes a major bottleneck affecting water

quality improvement in the river basins. According to the notice on strengthening the prevention and control

of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution issued by the ministry of ecology and environment in April 2018, the

new challenges emerge for the nationwide water pollution prevention and control work: phosphorus

pollution is severe in some typical areas, and phosphorus pollution prevention and control will become the

work focus in areas where water quality is difficulty to improve.

1 INTRODUCTION

In China, the areas with phosphorus pollution are

mainly located in Minjiang River, Tuojiang River,

Wujiang River, Qingshuijiang River, as well as the

Yichang and Jingzhou sections of the Yangtze River

economic belt since 2011 (Figure 1). In 2017, the

average concentration of total phosphorus in

Minjiang River was 0.164 mg/L, lower than the limit

of type with the water quality standards class Ⅲ. The

average concentrations of total phosphorus in

Tuojiang River, Qingshuijiang River and Wujiang

River were 0.234 mg/L, 0.214 mg/L and 0.21 mg/L,

which was worse than the surface water standard

class Ⅲ. Moreover, due to high total phosphorus

concentration in Yichang, Jingzhou sections of

Yangtze River, the surface water quality has

dropped from class Ⅳ to Ⅴ from 2014 to 2017. Both

the 13th five-year plan for ecological and

environmental protection and the plan for the

ecological and environmental protection of the

Yangtze River economic belt clearly identified the

Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, Wujiang River ,

Qingshui River and Yichang section of the Yangtze

River as key areas for prevention and control of total

phosphorus pollution (Xu et al., 2018). And

Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, and Yunnan provinces

need to pay more attention on controlling the

phosphorus pollution (Wang et al., 2006; Yao et al.,

2015).

Figure 1: The average concentrations of total phosphorus

in main rivers in China.

2 METHOD

In total 1940 ranking section (point) of surface

waters distributed in 978 rivers and 112 lakes

(reservoirs) from 2006 to 2017 were analysed under

the Chinese national environmental monitoring

Assessment.

Our team surveyed the basins of Minjiang River,

Tuojiang River, Wujiang River, Qingshui River and

Yichang section of the Yangtze River in 2017. We

analysed the data of environmental statistics

covering 2006-2017, including the phosphorus

emission and pollution in industrial pollution

sources, urban life, and agricultural pollution source.

Liu, Y., Zhang, W., Peng, S., Gao, H. and Wang, Q.

Strengthen Prevention and Control of Phosphorus Pollution in Typical Areas and Improve Water Quality.

DOI: 10.5220/0008189803310334

In The Second International Conference on Materials Chemistry and Environmental Protection (MEEP 2018), pages 331-334

ISBN: 978-989-758-360-5

331

3 RESULTS

3.1 Industrial Pollution Sources

Extensive phosphorite mining and loose end-of-pipe

treatment lead to phosphorus loss to the

environment. In the four provinces of Hubei,

Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou where phosphorite

are concentrated, the majority of ores are either

medium or low-grade phosphate deposits. With low-

level mining technology and local rainy climatic, the

loss of phosphorus in phosphate deposits and mine

waste worsen (Cao et al., 2012). In addition,

irregular design and the existence of small-medium

scale phosphate mines without soil dump also

worsen water. For example, in Yiling district of

Yichang, Yuan 'an county, Chongqing Wulong,

Youyang, Pengshui and Guizhou Guiyang, Zunyi,

Tongren, Qiannan and southeast Guizhou, the

phosphate mining enterprises have relatively low

level mining and mineral processing technology, and

the construction of slag field and tailings reservoir

are not well standardized.

Phosphorus chemical wastewater treatment is

challenging, and phosphorus excessive emissions is

particularly serious. The production technology of

phosphorus chemical industry is complex, and the

waste water treatment is difficult because the

amount of sewage is huge as well as the

concentrations of phosphorus is large. In the 468

enterprises producing phosphate compound fertilizer

in China, 56% of them are located in Guizhou,

Sichuan, Hubei and Yunnan provinces. The

managements of many enterprises are extensive and

are difficult to inspect. Uncontrolled large amount of

waste discharge due to production accidents

happened from time to time. For instance, in the

Leshan section of Minjiang, the Deyang section of

Tuojiang, the Wujiang section below the middle

reaches of the Wujiang River in Guizhou province

and the Qingshui River, the phosphorus pollution

severely worse than the standards, mainly due to

discharge from phosphorus chemical enterprises,

phosphorus gypsum piling, and so on.

Low utilization rate of phosphogypsum restricts

the sustainable development of phosphorous

chemical industry. In China, the annual discharge of

phosphorus gypsum reaches about 75 million tons,

and the accumulative heap stock exceeds 300

million tons. However, the comprehensive

utilization rate of phosphorus gypsum is only 30%

of the annual output. For example, in Guizhou

province phosphorus and gypsum cause a waste of

phosphorus resources of more than 100,000 tons per

year. The long-term storage of phosphogypsum not

only causes serious environmental damage but also

causes huge waste of resources, which has become

the main bottleneck of the development of

phosphorous chemical industry.

3.2 Pollution Sources of Urban Life

The phosphorus emission of urban life is large and

the level of governance is low. In 2015, the sewage

treatment rates in counties of Sichuan, Guizhou,

Yunnan and Hubei provinces were 70.48%, 77.84%,

76.22% and 82.62%, respectively, lower than the

national average rate. 63% of the 1433 sewage

treatment plants are subject to the "urban sewage

treatment plant pollutant discharge standard"

(GB18981-2002) level B. Of these, 342 sewage

treatment facilities in 600 urban sewage treatment

plants in basins of Mintuo River, Wujiang River and

Qingshui River have a total phosphorus emission

concentration, which is subject to the "pollutant

discharge standard of urban sewage treatment

plants" (GB18981-2002) level B.

3.3 Agricultural Pollution Source

The treatment level of the pollution from livestock

and poultry breeding is low, and the point-source

pollution is not effectively controlled. The

proportion of large-scale farms in livestock and

poultry breeding during the 12th five-year plan

period in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Hubei was

slightly low, at 50.04%, 78.09%, 63.95% and

35.69% respectively. The basic pollution prevention

measures of large-scale livestock and poultry farms

have not been completed in Zunyi, Tongren, Bijie,

Yiling, Yidu, Dangyang, Zhijiang. The utilization of

phosphorus resources is insufficient.

The proportion of phosphorus emission in

aquaculture is prominent, and fertilizer application

rate in planting industry is large. The phosphorus

pollution contribution of planting industry and

aquaculture industry in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan

and Hubei accounts for 18.6% and 22.8% of the

phosphorus pollution contribution in China

respectively. Among them, the phosphorus emission

of aquaculture industry in Hubei accounts for

19.13% of the national proportion, which is a key

area for the prevention and control of phosphorus

pollution in aquaculture.

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4 DISCUSSION

Implement phosphorus pollution control and special

emission limits of total phosphorus for phosphorous

chemical enterprises in the typical areas. Implement

phosphorus pollutants reduction replacement for

projects of new, modified (expanded) construction

enterprises in the controlled areas (Quan et al.,

2005). In addition, define the upper limit and

intermittent targets of total phosphorus emission for

units that discharge pollutants with the permit.

Carrying out trials of paid use and trading of

pollutant discharge indicators as well as

popularizing trade in emission reduction credits for

industrial point sources should be well done. It

should also establish cross-provincial water quality

and ecological environment compensation

mechanism and economic responsibility mechanism.

Construct phosphorus pollutants discharge funds, to

support new phosphorus treatment facilities and

pollution related technology and research (Cao et al.,

2018).

Strengthen the monitoring and management of

pollutant discharge units, build automatic inspection

systems in the factories, to realize real-time

monitoring, promoting data transmission and early

warning of pollutant discharge by key units in the

region. One should introduce the environmental tax

on phosphorus emissions for phosphorous related

products, which will force low cost and high

pollution companies to withdraw from the market.

As well as reinforce the responsibility of enterprises;

strengthen the disclosure of environmental pollution

information, promoting environmental credit

evaluation, and establishing a red-yellow card

system for the emission from industrial enterprises.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Strengthen whole-process management of the

industrial chain and promote technological

innovation and accelerate structural adjustment of

key phosphorus emission industries such as

phosphorus chemical, starch, textile, agricultural and

sideline industries. Carry out special rectification of

the phosphorus chemical industry, with the focus on

phosphate fertilizer industry. Close down the "three

highs and one low" small phosphate chemical

enterprises, limit the development of industries such

as diammonium, ammonium, heavy calcium,

phosphate fertilizer and compound fertilizer made

from phosphoric acid, and stop expanding the scale

of production of superphosphate and calcium-

magnesium phosphate fertilizer. Improve

phosphorus filtration efficiency and phosphorus

recovery rate in phosphorous chemical industry and

water efficiency in phosphate compound fertilizer

enterprises. Carry out the renovation of wet-process

phosphoric acid purification, and promote the

development of phosphorus product structure toward

fine and high-end products, such as food grade

standards, electronic grade standards industries.

Promote the recovery of phosphoric acid, strengthen

the harmless treatment and comprehensive

utilization of phosphogypsum, and realize the

standardized management of phosphogypsum and

phosphorus residue storage (Zhou et al., 2018).

Strengthen the strategic resource management of

phosphate mineral resources and establish the

strategic reserve mechanism of phosphate mineral

resources. One should improve the recovery rate and

recycle rate of phosphate mineral resources, and

reduce phosphorus loss rate in the process of mining,

close small phosphate mines, reduce wasting of

phosphate mineral resources, and strengthen the

comprehensive utilization of medium and low-grade

phosphate mines and associated resources, focusing

on Hubei, Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces.

Realization the joint urban and rural control of

domestic sewage phosphorus removal process. To

carry out deep phosphorus removal of sewage

treatment plants in typical areas, biological

phosphorus removal and chemical phosphorus

removal processes shall be carried out, and the

phosphorus pollutants emission concentration of

sewage treatment plants with a scale of more than

2,000 tons/day shall be less than 0.5mg/L. In typical

areas, the rain and sewage diversion pipe network is

fully implemented, and the maintenance of existing

sewage pipe network is strengthened to reduce

phosphorus pollutants leakage. Through the

construction of decentralized sewage treatment

facilities and access to the nearby urban sewage

treatment facilities, the collection and treatment

level of rural domestic sewage is improved.

Constructed wetland and land usage were adopted to

reduce the total phosphorus concentration of tail

water in sewage treatment plants. The production

and use of phosphorus detergent are prohibited

throughout the region, and the management of

kitchen sewage and the utilization of garbage and

wastes are strengthened, so as to control the

phosphorous content of waste water at the pollution

source.

Improve the management rate of large-scale

farms and utilization rate of fecal waste resources.

With Sichuan and Hubei as the focus, it should

Strengthen Prevention and Control of Phosphorus Pollution in Typical Areas and Improve Water Quality

333

continue to strengthen pollution control in large-

scale farms and promote the recycling of waste from

livestock and poultry breeding. Carry out the

dismantling of purse seining and the standardization

of cage aquaculture. With Hubei as the focal point, it

will be actively promoted for artificial compound

feeding and strengthen the management of inputs for

aquaculture. Overall implement the formula

fertilization based on real-site soil testing, with

Sichuan, Hubei and other provinces as the focus,

reduce fertilizer application, guide and support the

organic fertilizer industry.

Promote the storage of biological phosphorus,

reduce the phosphorus pollutants load of the

branches in Yangtze River. Restore the vegetation of

the bare mountain in phosphorus rich areas such as

Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces,

and construct the buffer zones along the lakeside

buffer ecological zone and the riverbank buffer zone

of dry tributaries in typical areas. The sewage is

stored with biological phosphorus through

microorganisms, hydrophilic plants and terrestrial

plants, prevent phosphorus pollutants from entering

the water body.

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