The beautiful scenery of Dahua Yao autonomous county. [Photo/gxnews.com.cn]

Dahua Yao autonomous county was recently named as a 2020 autonomous region-level ecological county by the Guangxi Ecological Environment Department, marking a new historic milestone for the construction of Dahua's ecological civilization.

In recent years, Dahua has continuously improved its rural living environment and ecological environment. At present, 10 of the county's 16 townships were autonomous region-level ecological towns, while 71 of the 160 administrative villages in the county were named as ecological villages, of which 59 were at the autonomous region-level.

Leading groups, organizations, and specialized agencies established by various townships and relevant departments have formed a three-level network for ensuring the smooth development of the construction of an ecological county.

Dahua has promoted the construction of garbage treatment and sewage treatment facilities. It built a county-level sewage treatment plant and sewage pipe network, with a daily processing capacity of 15,000 tons, as well as three township-level sewage treatment plants. The county has invested 50 million yuan ($7.59 million) to build a waste landfill, as well as another 30 million yuan to renovate it, making it the best waste landfill site in Hechi.

A total of 21 garbage incinerators have also been constructed. The harmless treatment rate of domestic garbage in the county exceeded 90 percent, and the general industrial solid waste disposal rate reached 100 percent.

The county has also vigorously promoted the control of rocky desertification and the construction of national ecological forests, with its forest coverage rate reaching 70.21 percent. The county invested 1.3 million yuan to take the lead in building county-level automatic ambient air quality monitoring stations, laying a solid foundation for urban environmental monitoring. In 2019, the average concentration of PM10 in the county was 47 micrograms/m3, and that of PM2.5 was 29 micrograms/m3.

Dahua has carried out measures spanning the protection of drinking water sources, the prevention and control of water pollution in industrial enterprises, the improvement of the water environment along rivers, the comprehensive improvement of the rural environment, the prevention and control of pollution from livestock and poultry breeding, as well as the full implementation of the "river chief system." It has invested 70 million yuan to optimize the drinking water source protection area, ensuring the safety of drinking water sources.

The county has also made efforts to develop ecological industries like eco-tourism.