In early March 2017, SIP Lvse Jiangnan Public Environment Concerned Centre (hereinafter referred to as “PECC”) received complaints from residents near the Qiandeng Industrial Park in Kunshan, Suzhou, reflecting that the industrial park had serious problems of environmental pollution and the air was filled with acrid smells. The smell of chemicals has affected the living environment and health of nearby residents.

On March 14th, 2017, PECC’s staff went to the site reported by the residents to conduct on-site investigation and found three pollution sources.

Pollution source 1: There are 2-3 kinds of strong and pungent odors at the back door of Yaxiang Daily Flavor where is 100 meters away from the entrance of Ocean Environment. According to local residents, this smell is emitted by Kunshan Yaxiang Daily Flavor Co., Ltd.

Figure 1: Kunshan Yaxiang Daily Flavor Co., Ltd.

Pollution source 2: There is also a strong pungent smell on the Lianhe Road at the junction of Wuyue Chemical Materials Co., Ltd., Kunshan Dingfeng Pesticide Co., Ltd. and Kunshan Agriculture Co., Ltd.

Figure 2: The area map of air pollution

Pollution source 3: Suzhou Elements Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. has the behavior of extending two pipes from the factory area directly to the outside manhole, and no sewage was found on site.

Figure 3: The enterprise extends the water pipe out of the wall

On March 16th, 2017, PECC submitted the “Environmental Research Report on Kunshan Qiandeng Industrial Park” to the environmental protection bureau.

On March 29th, 2017, invited by Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau, PECC came to Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau to communicate and coordinate the “Environmental Research Report on Kunshan Qiandeng Industrial Park”.

Figure 4: PECC and Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau communicate and coordinate on environmental issues

In response to the problem of air pollution of the company, Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau stated:

The source of the odor of pollution source 1 is mainly the unorganized discharge of the treatment facilities of wastewater and workshops of the enterprise. In addition, after the enterprise meets the emission standard, it will also have a certain impact on the surrounding residents. In view of the above situation, Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau orders the enterprise to relocate the synthesis section with greater pollution impact. At present, the enterprise is accelerating the speed of enterprise’s upgrade, transformation and relocation to completely solve the phenomenon of the enterprise’s waste gas disturbing the residents.

The pollution source 2 is located at the junction of a chemical material company, a pesticide factory and a chemical warehouse. Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau stated that during the on-site investigation, it found that there is indeed a smell in the area, and the pollution mainly comes from the unorganized emission of waste gas generated during the loading and unloading of materials. The next step will be to recommend the enterprise to install collection circuit devices of exhaust gas and treatment facilities of exhaust gas. PECC suggests that this enterprise can add scrubbers to solve the problem of unorganized emission of waste gas in the region.

The pollution source 3 is a Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. The company has problems in treatment of the waste water and waste gas. Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau said that according to the research report of PECC, it was found that the enterprise had irregular layout of treatment pipelines of wastewater. In response to this phenomenon, Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau issued an administrative warning notice to the company on the spot: requiring the standardized construction of treatment facilities of wastewater, signs of facility pipeline, and discharge outlets. At present, the company is transforming the treatment facilities of wastewater as planned, and will standardize the construction of pipeline signs and discharge outlets for wastewater treatment facilities to reduce unnecessary misunderstandings by residents.

Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau said: Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau welcomes PECC to supervise environmental pollution in Kunshan. The goals of Kunshan Environmental Protection Bureau and PECC are the same. PECC finds the source of pollution and makes the location of the case more accurate. PECC conducts researches on pollution sources and promotes the solution of pollution problems which is actually to promote the construction of ecological civilization in Kunshan.

Progress of this case: The rectification work has been completed.

This project is the “Sniper Battle of Water Pollution of Tai Lake” project of the East China Center of SEE.

Thanks to Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology (SEE) for its financial support. The content and opinions in this article only represent the author’s personal views and have nothing to do with the position or policies of SEE.