Since the implementation of the "reward for governance" policy in 2008, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance have strengthened organizational leadership, focused on planning, increased supervision and assessment, issued more than 10 normative documents, held 4 national on-site meetings, allocated more than 30 billion yuan of special funds for rural environmental protection, and guided and promoted the continuous improvement of rural environment in various regions. A large part of the special funds for rural environmental protection are used to build rural sewage treatment facilities. What is the operational effect of these rural sewage treatment facilities after they are built?

1、 The demonstration work of rural contiguous rectification has achieved significant results, and the demonstration effect is highlighted

The East China Environmental Protection Inspection Center found during daily inspections that carrying out demonstration work for rural contiguous rectification is a major project for benefiting the people, governance, and development. While solving the problem of rural environmental pollution that directly endangers the health of farmers, it also enhances the environmental awareness of rural cadres and residents; Solved the problems of "rice bags," "vegetable baskets," and "water tanks" that farmers rely on for survival; Eliminating long-standing issues in environmental protection work such as prioritizing urban areas over rural areas, heavy industry over agriculture, and key sources over non-point sources; This has changed the previous model of "point" governance for key villages, and concentrated funds to carry out contiguous rural environmental improvement in key river basins and regions, solving the problem of low investment and slow results in the past.

2、 The problem of abnormal operation of rural sewage treatment facilities is prominent

At the same time, daily inspections have also identified some prominent issues, one of which is the abnormal operation of rural sewage treatment facilities. On April 21, 2016, the tenth plenary meeting of the the Taihu Lake Lake Water Pollution Prevention and Control Commission of Jiangsu Province reported the "Assessment Results of the Provincial Government on the Responsibility for the 2013-2015 the Taihu Lake Lake Governance Goals" in Xinhua Daily, and at the same time, the recent problems of spot check were also exposed.The exposed problem is that the normal operation rate of rural domestic sewage treatment facilities in Yixing City and Jurong City during spot checks is less than 30%The economically developed southern Jiangsu region is like this, while other underdeveloped areas can imagine that many built rural sewage treatment facilities have become "sun drying" projects, which have not achieved the expected results

We conducted in-depth research and analysis on the identified issues, with the main reasons focusing on the following three aspects:

（1） Some governments prioritize the 'long-term' over the 'immediate', and the built facilities cannot operate normally.The idea of some government departments combining contiguous rectification projects with the construction of new rural areas from a long-term perspective is correct, but it ignores the prominent environmental problems that seriously endanger the health of farmers and the strong public feedback. Some places adopt reserved construction, resulting in some pollution control facilities being built, but due to the lagging construction of supporting pipelines, insufficient population and water supply in hollow villages, and other reasons, the facilities cannot operate normally. There are two specific situations. Firstly, supporting the construction of sewage treatment facilities in rural new villages that have been built or are under construction. These new villages are currently unoccupied and do not generate any sewage; Secondly, it is necessary to reserve the construction of sewage treatment facilities, expand the sewage treatment scale on the basis of the existing population, and reserve sufficient water for the upcoming construction of new villages nearby. This will result in a design scale far exceeding the actual treatment scale and poor treatment effect. For example, the underground low-energy decentralized sewage treatment facility in Ganxi Village, Lucun Township, Guangde County, Anhui Province adopts A2O processing technology, with a total investment of 1.5 million yuan, benefiting 160 households and a daily processing capacity of 80 tons. In April 2013, a secret investigation revealed that the project was located next to the construction of the new village, with a occupancy rate of less than 20%. Imported sampling monitoring was conducted, COD：31.6mg/L； Ammonia nitrogen: 2.57mg/L, with almost no sewage entering the facility, unable to operate.

（2） Some places prioritize face saving over practical results, and some projects have become local "image projects".Some towns and villages have the phenomenon of "national funds already in hand, but work is perfunctory" after successful fund declaration. High quality sewage treatment facilities are a prerequisite for the effective operation of projects. High quality is reflected in appropriate site selection, high-quality construction materials, and low failure rates during later operation. However, actual research has found that the effectiveness of pollution control facilities in some places is exactly the opposite. Firstly, some regions only treat pollution control projects as "image projects" and "face saving projects", and even construct pollution control projects just to meet the hard conditions of "healthy living demonstration villages", "beautiful countryside" and other projects. The project investment is huge and the construction is luxurious, but it has never been put into use after completion. This not only wastes rectification funds, affects the implementation effect of the project, but also causes strong dissatisfaction among the masses. For example, during a secret investigation in April 2013, a green landscape was built around the Longchuan Village sewage treatment project in Jixi County, Anhui Province. A large stone monument with the words "Longchuan Village Sewage Treatment Project" was erected, which looked magnificent from a distance. After uncovering each sewage treatment tank, it was found that there was no sewage running in each reaction tank. Due to the terrain problem of the selected site, river water flowed back into the tank. The surrounding villagers believed that this project was just a "decoration", "money fraud", and "sunbathing" project. Secondly, the "performance oriented view" has led to a swarm of rural environmental protection facilities being launched. Some places have not reasonably allocated and optimized projects based on local conditions, only focusing on whether the facilities that demonstrate performance have been built, without caring about the quality of the facilities, underground pipeline construction, and whether the later operation guarantees are in place. The problems of project operation in the later stage have become prominent, and the project operation status is worrying. Most towns and villages neglect effective communication with design units, local residents, and relevant government departments in project site selection, technical screening, pipeline layout, equipment selection, and project land use, resulting in forced changes to implementation plans and construction processes after project construction, which affects project quality.

（3） Long term mechanism not implemented, worrying project operation statusThe long-term operation of the project is the biggest challenge in the continuous rectification work, and the lack of assessment, funding, management, and technology has become a common problem faced by local areas. One challenge is the difficulty in implementing responsibility and assessment mechanisms. Due to the lack of a clear responsible party for the rural contiguous rectification project, it is impossible to effectively supervise the operation status of the project. Secondly, it is difficult to implement long-term operation and maintenance funds. Due to the lack of implementation of daily operating funds for pollution control facilities and garbage cleaning systems in some areas, which are self raised by local governments, it is more difficult to raise funds in economically underdeveloped areas. In most areas, the operating electricity fees for treatment facilities still follow industrial electricity standards, which increases operating costs. Taking the Livestock and Poultry Manure Treatment Center in Dagong Town, Hai'an as an example, during a survey in April 2013, the person in charge of the center reported that the annual operating cost of operating at full capacity was 300000 yuan (excluding transportation fees), and the electricity price for industrial electricity was 0.84 yuan/kWh, while agricultural electricity was only 0.41 yuan/kWh. The annual expenditure on electricity costs was 150000 to 180000 yuan. If the agricultural electricity standard could be adopted for charging, the operating costs would be significantly reduced. The third challenge is the difficulty in implementing management and technical support mechanisms. The effective operation of pollution control facilities requires daily management and maintenance by technical personnel, but some areas have not implemented relevant personnel, and some implementation personnel have not received regular technical training, resulting in a lack of facility operation and maintenance personnel.

3、 It is suggested that relevant national departments take practical results as the fundamental starting point and implement rural environmental governance from the top-level design

One suggestion is to focus on key areas, find breakthroughs, and prioritize solving prominent rural environmental problems in local areasThrough on-site inspections, resident visits, and departmental communication, we have reached a consensus that the direction of rural environmental protection work should first address the problem of garbage pollution, followed by agricultural non-point source pollution, livestock and poultry breeding pollution, and township enterprise (family workshop) pollution, and finally solve the problem of rural domestic sewage pollution. The current situation of rural environment varies greatly in different regions. It is recommended that the funding for rural contiguous improvement projects should not rush to launch various types of projects, but should select projects that solve prominent environmental problems according to local conditions, with clear priorities. For example, in the early stages of environmental remediation, one can choose to start with garbage collection and disposal, gradually solving agricultural non-point source pollution, livestock and poultry breeding pollution, and township enterprise pollution. In villages with concentrated residential areas, centralized sewage treatment projects can be chosen. In villages with scattered residential areas, it is not recommended to invest funds in centralized sewage treatment projects, but to build dispersed and easily maintainable artificial wetlands as the main focus.

Secondly, it is suggested that the country implement financial support based on the effectiveness of rectification, and form a demonstration effect of continuous rectificationIt is suggested to shift the timing of fund disbursement from "pre construction" to "post construction". The funds for contiguous rectification are allocated to various towns and villages in the early stage of construction. The allocation of funds in the early stage provides financial support for the construction of the project, but also brings various drawbacks such as "high enthusiasm for application but low enthusiasm for construction", "non-standard use of funds", "heavy construction but light operation", and "hasty implementation time". It is suggested that the government provide funding subsidies to local governments in two stages of the later stage of construction. One is the acceptance period, during which quality and funding evaluations are conducted on the accepted projects, and subsidies are given according to a certain proportion. The other is the operation period. It is suggested that the government include the normal operation of rural sewage treatment facilities in the assessment of local "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plans", and provide appropriate subsidies based on daily inspections and operating costs. Subsidies will be deducted for cities with a high proportion of abnormal facility operation. By transforming the use of national funds from the early stage to the later stage, it is beneficial for some practical economic projects to be launched, and changing the allocation of funds from the construction period to the assessment period, which is conducive to the long-term operation of projects and truly plays a demonstrative role.

Thirdly, it is recommended that local governments establish and improve long-term management mechanisms, strengthen assessment and supervision, and ensure the long-term stable operation of projectsLocal governments should establish a specialized department responsible for post assessment and management mechanisms, formulate long-term management systems for rural environmental protection infrastructure, implement funding, personnel, and responsibilities, and regularly conduct business training; Carry out pilot projects for the target responsibility system of comprehensive rural environmental improvement, and promote the extension of environmental protection investment, environmental law enforcement, environmental monitoring, and environmental education to rural areas. To deal with the problem of poor operation of rural sewage treatment facilities that have been built and put into operation, and to firmly address the issue of "emphasizing construction over management". At the same time, in response to the fact that most rural areas are facing financial difficulties, we will further adjust the financial subsidy system, expand the scope of "rewards instead of subsidies", and provide certain facility operation funding subsidies to demonstration areas that are stable in operation and well managed on the basis of conducting effectiveness evaluations.

Fourthly, it is suggested that the country should quickly introduce technical standards and specifications for rural environmental improvement projects, strictly control the quality, and promote systematic supervision of later operationIt is suggested that the country establish a mature rural environmental governance technology project database and provide typical project cases with good governance benefits. At the beginning of the work, it took a long time for various regions to screen feasible technologies. Since the five-year demonstration work, the advantages and disadvantages of each technology have been revealed one by one. It is suggested that the country organize various regions to summarize the performance parameters such as the advantages and disadvantages, cost-effectiveness, and suitability of each technology, and report and promote typical rural sewage project cases with good treatment benefits. It is necessary to establish a mature technology project library as soon as possible to provide project and implementation templates for more contiguous remediation areas in the later stage, and save construction costs in the early stage. At the same time, due to the high construction cost and difficult operation and maintenance of power, micro power, and solar powered centralized sewage treatment facilities used in many rural areas, they are not conducive to long-term operation. Suggest increasing relevant scientific research investment, exploring governance experiences and technologies suitable for different regional characteristics, strengthening the promotion and application of economically applicable technologies, and continuously improving the effectiveness of rural pollution control