Hou Liqiang
ter can meet Grade 1, the highest level in the country’s threetier assessment system. Most now have only basic septic tanks, which means a considerable investment to meet the standards.
In addition, until work on a new sewage network around Erhai Lake is completed in June next year, businesses will be required to pay to regularly transport their wastewater to one of seven nearby treatment plants.
This will also hit owners in the pocket. Dali Aotuo Sewage Transport Co, for example, charges 1,200 yuan ($180) to extract and transport up to 3 cubic meters of sewage to a facility about 20 kilometers from the lake.
‘Critical’ condition
The annual number of visitors to Dali increased from 15 million in 2011 to 39 million last year, according to the prefecture government. By contrast, the authorities say the volume of pollutants discharged every year into Erhai Lake has risen by more than 50 percent since 2004, although no specific figures are available.
“The situation in the lake has been critical since early this year,” said Fu Zhong jian, deputy director of rural development for the Yunnan Housing and Rural-Urban Development Department, which is supervising the cleanup campaign. He compared the lake to a hospital patient in need of emergency treatment.
Erhai Lake has been hit by at least two major outbreaks of blue-green algae, a toxic type of bacteria that develops on the water’s surface. Caixin magazine reported that 22,857 tons of overgrowth caused by pollution, including algae, was removed using two boats fitted with specialist equipment between November and March.
In addition, the authorities are attempting to tackle pollution at the source, with the Yunnan Development and Reform Commission having approved 4.5 billion yuan in funding for public-private partnership projects to improve water quality in the lake.
According to the Dali government, 3.49 billion yuan will be spent during the 13th FiveYear Plan period, from 2016 to 2020, with private companies brought in to help construct sewage treatment plants, pipelines and pumping stations.
Cost of progress
While residents and business owners around the lake were generally supportive of the cleanup efforts, some who talked to China Daily criticized the government for failing to plan for the area’s tourism boom.
Zhai Qiang, 35, moved from his native Beijing to Caicun, a village on the lake’s western shore, in 2014 to open a guesthouse with 19 rooms. He has spent 4 million yuan on the business, yet he said the sudden order to close his doors had put that investment in jeopardy.
“The local government didn’t communicate with us at all before they ordered the suspension,” he said. He estimated his direct loss so far to be about 300,000 yuan, “and that’s not to mention the 500,000 yuan my business can easily make every year”.
In 2015, the authorities required him to install an underground tank that cost more than 70,000 yuan to filter his wastewater before it flowed into the lake so he could pass an environmental assessment, he said.
“We did everything as requested,” Zhai said, but he added: “Tourism has been developing too fast. The government has failed to invest properly in infrastructure, including sewage pipelines. This is poor planning by the local government. We (businesses) are paying for this mistake.”
Qiao Xiaolin, 37, until recently ran a guesthouse near Dali old town, about 5 km from Erhai Lake. When she first visited the lake, in 2012, she said there were few places to stay nearby, suggesting a gap in the market. It only required an investment of 300,000 yuan, and hotels could charge up to 2,000 yuan a night in the peak season, she said.
Yet she decided against it. “I had the money to open a guesthouse near the lake,” Qiao said, “but I didn’t want to do that because the money would be made at the cost of the natural environment, which is a valuable resource and can be impossible to restore once damaged.”
Duan Shusheng, a man in his 30s from Zhoucheng village, just north of Caicun, was among the many residents who said they welcomed the government’s cleanup mission.
“When I was young, the riv- ers that connected with the lake were so clean that you could see the bottom. We could drink from nature directly,” he said. “We used to swim in the lake, but now the oil contamination that can be easily seen on the shore puts people off.
“I strongly support the cleanup work,” Duan added. “We live on tourism, but only if the lake is clean will we see more tourists.”
Contact the writers at houli qiang@chinadaily.com.cn