Every year, ruddy shelducks, a migratory bird species, take a break from their northbound journey in Xiaotanzi, a village on the bank of the Yellow River in Jungar Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Over the past few years, the local government has been taking numerous measures aimed at protecting the 238-km Jungar Banner section of the river, most notably controlling desertification and industrial wastewater, as well as introducing the river chief system, where local government heads are placed in charge of protecting the bodies of water within their jurisdictions. As a result of these measures, the water quality of the Yellow River has greatly improved and local residents are enjoying a better living environment.

Making wastewater reusable

Rich in minerals, Jungar Banner is a key industrial heartland in west Inner Mongolia. To tackle the pollution entering the Yellow River through industrial wastewater, the local government has implemented a wastewater recycling initiative. "We are turning wastewater-induced ecological burdens and costs into dividends," said Zhang Kangping, Director of the Water Environment Management Office at the Jungar Banner Branch of Ordos Bureau of Ecology and Environment.

As much as 300 tons of hypersaline wastewater are generated per hour by chemical enterprises in the Jungar Economic Development Zone, which is growing with the expansion of the zone. High concentrations of pollutants, a great variety of soluble inorganic salts, and the complexity of pollutants make it challenging to treat the huge amount of hypersaline wastewater created by the chemical sector.

A hypersaline wastewater treatment plant in Jungar Banner now runs at full capacity, extracting high-quality sodium chloride and sodium sulphate from the hypersaline effluent.

Since 2020, a total of 143 million yuan ($19.9 million) has been invested by Jungar Banner State-Owned Gas Heating Co. Ltd. in building and operating the hypersaline wastewater treatment plant.

Jungar Banner has also made great efforts in exploring ways to effectively reuse the wastewater. Mine drainage is surface water or groundwater that drains from a mine and poses problems to the natural environment. Zhang said 18 million tons of mine drainage is generated annually by more than 130 coal mines in Jungar Banner, which has not only wastes water resources, but also threatens the water quality of major rivers in the region.

Luckily, recycling mine drainage in Jungar Banner is relatively easy, as it only contains a few types of suspended solids. In the mine drainage purification plant of the Guanzigou mine in Jungar Banner, the purified drainage water is kept in two underground reservoirs. "The reservoirs can hold 2,000 tons of water for both industrial and household use," said Liu Zhili, head of the plant. According to him, the treated water only costs 3 yuan ($0.4) per ton, which is less than half the previous price of 7 yuan ($0.97) per ton for groundwater. Given this, the mine, which consumes 2,500 tons of water a day, is able to save nearly 10,000 yuan ($1,388.9) in water costs per day.

Combating soil erosion

As an arid and semi-arid area in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Jungar Banner has been plagued by serious soil erosion. Sand control has been a major focus in the protection of the Yellow River.

Since 2000, the banner has invested 2.63 billion yuan ($365.4 million) in ecosystem restoration projects. As a result, some 427,000 hectares of forest and grassland have been planted, raising the forest coverage from 8.4 percent to 36.38 percent and the vegetation coverage from 16.6 percent to 76.2 percent. In addition, 61 km of embankments, over 800 soil-retaining dams and 2,000 debris dams have been built along the Yellow River, and a project for water and soil conservation now incorporates 147,000 hectares of land. With sand and erosion controlled and trees planted, the water in the river has become clearer.

To keep the Yellow River clean, 539 river chiefs in Jungar Banner now routinely inspect the river. As the river chief of the Xiaotanzi section of the Yellow River, Qiao Xu inspects the river twice a month. In recent years, he has noticed an increasing number of migratory birds resting here. "More trees and grass are attracting more migratory birds. The environment is getting better," he said. "And we feel a stronger sense of obligation to take good care of our mother river."

According to Xue Yong, Director of the Nature Reserves and Wildlife Protection Management Office of the Jungar Banner Forestry and Grassland Bureau, towns on the banks of the Yellow River have become ideal habitats for migratory birds and now attract more than 200 species, including white swans, ruddy ducks, grey cranes and other wildlife under the state's second level of protection.

Growing economic prosperity

A cleaner Yellow River has presented many opportunities for tourism development. 

In Dujiamao Village, inside the Jungar Yellow River Grand Canyon Scenic Area, villagers used to mainly live off farming and made little money. Nowadays, tourism has become a major source of income. Through a series of interactive tourism projects, the scenic area has received more than 300,000 tourists since 2021, creating demand for vacation rentals and restaurants and helping local per-capita income to multiply several times.

In Xiaotanzi, there is always an endless stream of diners interested in the local cuisine. Now, the fishing village has become a famous destination for travelers interested in fishing holidays.

The boom in tourism has also attracted villagers, who had previously moved to cities for work, back to the village to start their own businesses. In 2012, Yao Li closed her clothing store in the city and instead started a fishing-based agritainment business in her hometown, which now brings her an annual income of 200,000 yuan ($27,777) to 300,000 yuan ($41,666). "We had to work in cities to make more money, but now we can live a decent life in our hometown. The environment is more beautiful and we live more comfortably," she said. BR

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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