Mine re-greening and water conservation

In recent years, with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development, mountains, waters and farmlands have been restored, and air purification has increased.

About 2.8 million yuan ($430,000) was invested in the green restoration of mines in Jizhou district in Tianjin over 3.3 million sq m.

Nine cities and 115 counties in Hengshui in Hebei province have started pilot projects for underground water governance, resulting in a slowing down of the rate of loss for shallow underground water.

In Tianjin, the total volume of underground water usage is tapering down.

In Beijing, with the help of a South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the total volume of ground water exploitation is 250 million cu m, slowing down the speed of loss. At the end of 2015, the depth of ground water was basically equal to the depth in 2014. At the end of 2016, the depth rose 0.52m.

Air pollution control is underway

Coal is still the main source of air pollution in the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei area. Available data indicate that the total volume of coal burned in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is 400 million metric tons per year; the volume in Beijing alone is 10 million tons. In Hebei, more than 80 percent of energy consumption comes from coal. The concentration of PM2.5 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area mainly comes from coal use in winter.

In August of 2014, instructions were issued that at the end of 2020 Beijing would ban coal burning in the city’s six urban districts.

In August of 2017, Dachang county in Langfang in Hebei province finished installations providing for a switch from coal to gas. Similar shifts from coal to gas will occur in most areas of Langfang and Baoding by the end of October, 2017.

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will use the same regulations and policies to control air pollution.

Beijing has been controlling air pollution since 1998. In 2013, the index for the concentration of PM2.5 was accepted as the monitoring range, and a clean air action plan was launched.

In 2016, the index for the concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing was 73 µg per cu m, a decrease of 18 percent from 2013. The PM2.5 indexes in Tianjin and Hebei were 69 µg per cu m and 70 µg per cu m, down by 28.1 percent and 35.2 percent since 2013.

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will always insist on ecological restoration.