Guarding Qingqing Liujiang River, Liuzhou strictly investigates illegal sand mining

July, on the Liujiang River, people can be seen everywhere swimming in the embrace of the clear mother river, embracing joy and coolness. The yellow water bus pulled out a white trail on the blue waves, and the window of the ship's side became a new window for many tourists to observe Liuzhou.

This picture of the harmonious coexistence of man and water embodies the painstaking efforts of many Liujiang River guardians. In order to protect the clear water of the river, take the boat as the home, to crack down on large-scale illegal sand mining gangs, five times to enforce the law, and three times to expose the black curtain of sand discharge. These little-known stories of Liujiang Guardian are told to you.

engaged in a battle of wits and courage

at the anchorage of the municipal law enforcement official ship." There is a barge with the four characters "Water Administration Supervision", which is the water office of the Municipal Water Administration Supervision Detachment. At 9 a.m. on July 12, we stepped on the barge. Zeng Shaohong, the deputy head of the detachment, Guo Shaoming, the chief of the Water Administration Law Enforcement Section, and He Liuxiong, the third-level chief officer, were already waiting here. On the same day, we will take Shuizheng 02 law enforcement ship with them to conduct a river patrol from Bailu Bridge to Lutang River in Liujiang River.

, an old ship parked next to Shuizheng 02 caught our attention.". "Why is there an old ship at the mooring point all the time?"? This ship has a history! Its story will be told to you while patrolling the river. It turned out that the old ship was the "predecessor" of Shuizheng 02-Shuizheng 01. When we were curious to find out the story on the ship, Zeng Shaohong kept us in suspense.

Shuizheng No.02 started up slowly." It carried us all the way north along the main stream of the Liujiang River. After passing Luozizhou and arriving at the double-track Liujiang Railway Bridge, Zeng Shaohong pointed through the porthole to an abandoned cement platform on the shore and said: In the past, from Luozizhou to Xinwei Wharf, there were six sand yards in just a few kilometers of the river. Many sand dredgers come and go here, and after mining, they directly rely on heavy machinery on these platforms to transport sand and gravel to shore, forming a "one-stop" interest chain.

, we noticed piles of sand and gravel rising from the river from time to time.". The water law enforcement officers on board told us that the Liujiang River is the second largest tributary of the Xijiang River system in the Pearl River Basin, with abundant water resources and river sand resources. These sand and gravel piles are the pebbles that the illegal sand miners piled up at random after sifting the river sand on the river surface. Illegal sand mining not only destroys the riverbed and the ecological environment of the river basin, but also leaves large and small stone piles after the sand dredger leaves, which will threaten the safety of the waterway like reefs.

, in order to protect the clear water of the river, Water law enforcement officers have repeatedly engaged in a battle of wits with illegal sand miners, and Shuizheng No.01, which was launched in 2002, has witnessed this period of history.

"Illegal sand miners always act at night. After 2010, illegal sand mining is very serious. Every night from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next day, we can receive calls from the masses. At most, we can receive five clues every night." Zeng Shaohong said that most of these clues point to the double-track bridge section of the Luoziling to Liujiang Railway. There are two sandbanks in

the river section, where sand and gravel are deposited in the nearby river course, and illegal sand dredgers approach the operation at night. If the law enforcement ship starts from the berthing point in the urban area after receiving the report clue, it will only be "difficult to put out the fire near the distant water". Sometimes illegal sand miners will use the trick of "thief crying stop thief"-pretending to report unwarranted clues, in fact, in order to divert law enforcement officers away from the mountain and gain time for themselves to commit crimes.

In order to keep an eye on the key river sections at all times, Shuizheng No.01 has become a semi-fixed law enforcement point of the water administration supervision detachment on the Liujiang River, which plays a deterrent role during the day and is convenient to attack at any time at night. "At that time, the law enforcement conditions were not as good as they are now. We drove Shuizheng 01 to enforce the law at Xinwei Wharf. Several members of the team took turns to change shifts. When hungry, they used a simple cassette stove to cook some food. When sleepy, they lay down on the short sofa on the boat.". In order to save fuel, they even dare not turn on the air conditioner for a long time in summer and often sweat. Guo Shaoming said that Shuizheng No.01 has become their second home. For illegal sand miners, the law enforcement vessels on duty are eyesores and thorns in the flesh. Almost all the law enforcement officers on duty on the ship have been provoked by illegal sand miners, some of whom have thrown stones at the law enforcement ship at night, and even made verbal threats to the law enforcement officers on board, but this has not allowed them to leave the river section they are guarding.

year, Shuizheng No.01, which has been in service for 10 years, has retreated to the second line because of its slow navigation speed and difficulty in pursuing illegal sand dredgers quickly. Water Administration No.02, which is faster and more flexible, takes over the baton and continues the story of cracking down on illegal sand mining.

In the more than ten years of work of the Water Administration Supervision Detachment, Zeng Shaohong still remembers several important time nodes of cracking down on illegal sand mining. The Regulations on the Management of River Sand Mining in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which was formally implemented

in 2017, intensified efforts to crack down on illegal sand mining, raising the maximum fine for illegal sand mining to 500000 yuan, effectively deterring illegal sand miners. However, when the water law enforcement officers were happy that the non-mining phenomenon on the river surface was gradually decreasing, they were shocked by a report clue. In July

2021, the detachment received a petition clue from the autonomous region: a large illegal sand mining gang appeared in the Dongxingtun area of Liucheng County. Every night, dozens of sand dredgers went out to work collectively, just like a mighty fleet. "When we saw the content of the report, we couldn't believe it, the scale was too big!"! After many times of squatting, the team members saw the same scene as the clues reflected. However, it is not easy to destroy such a large-scale illegal sand mining gang at one stroke. How to grasp the whereabouts and illegal evidence of the non-mining gang?

"River Sky Eye" can carry out 24-hour real-time monitoring and video recording of key monitoring points in the main stream of Liujiang River. Liu Yang, then the chief of the river section of the Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau, stayed up all night to check the video surveillance, and finally found out the law of the action of the illegal sand mining gangs-the sand dredger acted as soon as it was dark and returned at dawn at 6 o'clock the next day. After grasping this situation, the Water Administration Supervision Detachment specially mobilized four stormboats to Liucheng waters in September of that year to carry out law enforcement operations. The Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau has set up a special action working group and an action command center to provide action clues for law enforcement officers through the "River Eye of Heaven". Unexpectedly, the operation failed before it started.

mobilized the assault boats to the wharf of Longtou Town, Liucheng County, Law enforcement officers noticed a suspicious phenomenon: it was already in the early hours of the morning, but there were still two private cars parked in front of the pier, and there were people on the cars all the time. "The command center reported that the target river section was unusually calm that night, and there was no sand dredger.". We realized that the vehicle parked at the dock was probably being followed by a non-mining gang, and we had alerted the snake. Zeng Shaohong said that after the failure of the first law enforcement action, people realized that they were facing a group of organized and divided illegal sand mining gangs, and had a certain sense of anti-reconnaissance, which increased the difficulty of law enforcement.

The Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau and the Municipal Water Administration Supervision Detachment analyzed and planned the second law enforcement action: since it was easy to frighten the snake by using stormboats and law enforcement boats, they rented civilian boats to enforce the law close to the target river section. In order not to leak the news, the detachment specially rented a civilian boat from Rongshui County to Liucheng River. Just before the second operation was about to begin, news came from the command center that there were county-level law enforcement vessels patrolling the Liucheng River section that day, and illegal sand mining vessels were hiding collectively, so the operation had to be cancelled.

In the third operation, the civilian boat approached the target river section smoothly, only 1 kilometer away from the illegal sand dredger in operation, and then closer to the scene of illegal sand mining, and successfully obtained evidence. However, the boatman of the civilian boat was afraid of being retaliated by illegal sand miners, saying that he dared not bring the boat any closer, and the operation was still unsuccessful.

After daybreak, the unwilling law enforcement officers jointly launched the fourth operation with the water conservancy department of Liucheng County. They searched near the river where the sand dredger was found at night and found four sand dredgers loaded with sand and gravel, but they still failed to eradicate the illegal sand mining gangs due to the lack of key evidence of the scene of illegal sand mining.On October 1,

2021, the Regulations on the Protection of the Ecological Environment of the Liujiang River Basin in Liuzhou City came into effect, banning all sand mining activities in commercial rivers. Regulations are like a sharp weapon for "long teeth", which makes law enforcers feel more confident. Summing up the experience of the failure of the previous four operations, on January 27, 2022, the fifth law enforcement operation against illegal sand mining in Liucheng County began in the night. At 8 o'clock

that evening, the special action working group of the Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau found more than 20 transport ships and 5 sand dredgers passing through Liucheng Bridge in turn through the "River Eye of Heaven", and carried out illegal sand mining operations in the upper reaches of Dongxingtun. Liu Yang, head of the River Chief Section of the Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau, decided to take action after consulting with Lan Minfeng, head of the Municipal Water Administration Supervision Detachment. At 11:30 p.m., 13 water conservancy and water administration workers met to deploy the operation and decided to divide it into four groups to carry out the operation separately. The first group was responsible for driving civilian ships to the site of illegal sand mining in Dongxingtun to board and collect evidence, and controlling illegal ships to berth at Limingwan Wharf for further investigation. After successful evidence collection, the second group notified the county-level water conservancy and water administration law enforcement officers to conduct a carpet search of illegal vessels in the river. The third group is waiting at the wharf of Liming Bay for the first group to control the landing of illegal vessels and assist in the investigation. The fourth group was stationed in the rear to analyze the surveillance video of "River Eye" and provide operational guidance for other groups. At 2 a.m.

on January 28, the first group of six people, including Zeng Shaohong and Guo Shaoming, put on their uniforms, brought forensic equipment such as law enforcement work permits, law enforcement recorders and high-definition cameras, and drove the civilian boat to the river section about 800 meters from the sand dredger. In the dark night, law enforcement officers faintly saw about five sand dredgers turning on their searchlights for operation. In order not to frighten the snake, law enforcement officers tried to use UAVs to take evidence, but the light was too dark and the evidence collection effect was not ideal. After discussion, the team members immediately decided to forcibly board the ship to collect evidence. When the

civilian ship approached the sand dredger, the law enforcement officers immediately turned on the flashlight, videotaped and photographed the illegal sand mining process with a high-definition camera, and fixed the illegal evidence. Zeng Shaohong led two law enforcement officers to forcibly board the sand dredger and nearby transport vessels for control and evidence collection, and drove two illegal vessels back to Liming Bay Wharf to meet with the second and third teams. At this time, news came from the fourth group in the rear: according to the surveillance video, all illegal sand dredgers and transport vessels were still hiding in the river section from the Tai Po Power Station to Shiwulipo on the night of the 27th.

Day, the team struck while the iron was hot.". Some members of the team, together with the River Chief Office of Liucheng County Water Conservancy Bureau and the Water Administration Law Enforcement Brigade, took the Liucheng Water Conservancy Law Enforcement Vessel to conduct a carpet search of the upstream and downstream river sections, while the rest of the team searched the nearby river branches with UAVs, leaving the non-mining gangs invisible. One sand dredger and one transport vessel were captured at the scene of the operation, 24 transport vessels and 3 sand dredgers were searched along the river, and a total of 25 transport vessels and 4 sand dredgers were seized and detained. Water administrative law enforcement departments use the linkage working mechanism of "river length + chief procurator" and "river length + police chief" to strictly check the interest chain behind it. Handle about 50 people involved in the case, Fine 110.

has a long way to go

." Never give up day and night. The story of the guardian of Liujiang River continues. On March 16,

2022, Liuzhou City approved the establishment of a special protection organization for the Liujiang River Basin, the Liujiang River Basin Protection Section of the Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau, which took the lead in the protection of the Liujiang River Basin in the whole city, and carried out specific work in the Liujiang River Basin Protection Center of the Municipal River System Promotion Center. Each county (district) refers to the establishment of Liujiang River Basin protection agencies at the municipal level, forming a pattern of up-down linkage and joint management. On May 31, 2022, Liuzhou City set up Liuzhou Liujiang River Basin Protection Committee, whose director is the main leader of the four leading groups of the Municipal Committee, the Municipal People's Congress, the Municipal Government and the Municipal Consultative Conference. The whole city has formed a "chess game" of water protection.

In 2022, water conservancy departments found 54 problems of "four disorders" in rivers and lakes, and 21 problems of hindering flood discharge in rivers, all of which were sold. Water law enforcement departments at all levels have handled and investigated more than 260 cases of river-crossing violations, effectively improving the ecological environment and environmental landscape on both sides of the river. The ecological environment department has completed the investigation of sewage outlets along 322 kilometers of river shoreline in urban built-up areas, confirmed 703 sewage outlets and monitored 302 sewage outlets. The Municipal Housing and Construction Department has completed the expansion of three sewage treatment plants in Labao, Luzhai and Sanjiang counties, the Municipal Agricultural and Rural Bureau has completed 23 rural black ash sewage treatment projects, and the Municipal Forestry and Landscape Bureau has completed afforestation 29.

It also enables us to effectively protect the "gold-lettered signboard" of Liuzhou's water quality. From September to November 2021, "Liu Bao Wei Quan Ge" entered Yibei Sand Yard in Rongshui County, Harmony Town, Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, and made an unannounced report on the long-term illegal discharge of mud water from the sand yard. After the report was published, the municipal leaders gave instructions, the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress carried out supervision according to law, the Municipal Government Supervision Office led a multi-sectoral field investigation, the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment issued an "ecological ticket", the Municipal Procuratorate carried out a special supervision action, and finally the sand yard was fined more than 300000 yuan.