Abstract:In the highly urbanized central areas in Shanghai, the pollution caused by pumping stations discharging water into rivers during rainy days under the combined sewer system and forced drainage mode has become a prominent bottleneck restricting the stable up-to-standard quality of river water. Taking the Qiujiang River basin in Yangpu District of Shanghai as a typical case, a chain of problems including “mixed rainwater and sewage connection at the source, high water level operation of the pipeline network, centralized discharge of pumping stations into the river, and insufficient self-purification capacity of the river” is systematically diagnosed. A full-chain systematic governance scheme of “source - network - station - river” is proposed to cover the key measures such as the refined renovation of rainwater and sewage mixed connections, the repair of drainage networks and the optimized operation at low water levels, the interception of pumping stations and intelligent linkage dispatching, and the dredging of rivers and ecological restoration. Through the implementation of the “one river, one policy” governance scheme represented by Qiujiang River, the remarkable achievements of this system in reducing the pollution load entering the river, enhancing the self-purification capacity of water bodies, and improving the water quality fluctuations during the rainy season are verified. The summarized systematic governance paradigm provides replicable and scalable technical and management references for water environment governance in similar high-density built-up areas in China.
