2018年CRI Trash collection project aims cleaner Yangtze River

 

Collecting trash from the Yangtze River is a major undertaking¹ in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

The city's Wanzhou District, which covers 80 kilometers of the river, has made the work more efficient with automatic trash collection boats.

After the Three Gorges² Dam was completed in 2003, trash from upstream started to pile up on the surface of the Yangtze River in the Wanzhou area.

Tree branches, crop debris³, construction waste, plastic and other garbage have not only polluted the river but also disrupted river transportation.

A trash cleaning team was formed in Wanzhou the same year the dam was finished, aiming to restore the river to the clear water it used to have. However, the effort didn't make much difference due to limited manpower.

In 2009, two automatic trash collection boats were brought in and changes have taken place.

"We used to collect the river trash manually. It needed a lot of labor⁴ but had low efficiency. Now the machine can collect as many as 40 tons of trash in one hour, given that there is enough of it on the river surface. It was a huge increase in terms of efficiency compared with man power. Many other counties and districts of Chongqing have also equipped such boats. The trash that remains⁵ on the river became obviously less than before," says Chen Yu, the deputy head of Wanzhou Environmental Sanitation⁶.

Chen says their team now has four such boats working on the river, which play an even bigger role when flood season comes.

Now, nearly 30,000 tons of trash can be collected annually⁷.

Liu Bo, a marine⁸ engineer on an automatic trash cleaner, has been doing this job for five years.

Growing up in Wanzhou, he has incorporated his love for his hometown into his work.

"I hope people can come to Wanzhou in winter when water is stored or May when the plum flowers blossom. That's when Wanzhou is at the most beautiful time with clear sky and greenish river banks. That's also the time I always realize no matter how much I sweat in summer to do trash collection, it's all worth it. The more we do our work, the less the Yangtze River will be polluted," says Liu.

Besides constant Yangtze River cleaning work, Wanzhou is also strengthening its governance on tributary⁹ rivers to prevent trash-flow into the Yangtze in the first place.

To achieve this, Chen Yu says Wanzhou has utilized¹⁰ River Chiefs to monitor trash entering into rivers.

"As is adopted nationwide, all the branches of Yangtze of the Wanzhou district also carry out its river chief system. Through the river chief governing method, trash from all the 41 towns and countrysides are all collected before going into Yangtze. Trash there is transmitted to garbage treatment plants for process. In the past trash from villages constant flow into Yangtze and other branch rivers, but now it got controlled with roughly 85 percent of household waste can be treated," says Chen.

The garbage collected from the Yangtze River and its local tributaries¹¹ is burnt at a waste treatment plant.

1 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

2 gorges   

n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕

参考例句：

• The explorers were confronted with gorges(that were)almost impassable and rivers(that were)often unfordable. 探险人员面临着几乎是无路可通的峡谷和常常是无法渡过的河流。 来自辞典例句
• We visited the Yangtse Gorges last summer. 去年夏天我们游历了长江三峡。 来自辞典例句

3 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

7 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

8 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 tributary   

n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的

参考例句：

• There was a tributary road near the end of the village.村的尽头有条岔道。
• As the largest tributary of Jinsha river,Yalong river is abundant in hydropower resources.雅砻江是金沙江的最大支流，水力资源十分丰富。

10 utilized   

v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 tributaries   

n. 支流

参考例句：

• In such areas small tributaries or gullies will not show. 在这些地区，小的支流和冲沟显示不出来。
• These tributaries are subsequent streams which erode strike valley. 这些支流系即为蚀出走向谷的次生河。