China Names 4 Provinces Over Environmental Violations

China’s Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection has publicly released its third batch of typical cases from the third round, sixth batch of inspections, naming four provinces — Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Guangdong — for serious and systemic environmental violations. The cases, published on June 2, 2026, reveal widespread failures in urban sewage infrastructure, rural environmental governance, livestock waste management, and solid waste disposal, with inspectors documenting evidence of falsified reports and perfunctory responses by local authorities.

The Inspection System

The Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection system, established to enforce environmental accountability across all levels of government, conducts regular rounds of inspections nationwide. The third round, sixth batch — launched in May 2026 — covers seven provincial-level regions, with four central inspection teams deployed to investigate violations. According to Xinhua News, the inspections are conducted under the Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection Work Regulations and framed within Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought, which emphasizes harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

Liaoning: Sewage Infrastructure Crisis in Huludao

The Central First Inspection Team found that Huludao City in Liaoning Province has severely neglected its urban sewage infrastructure. As of the end of 2025, 140.9 kilometers out of 421.8 kilometers of sewage pipes — approximately one-third — had not been inspected or tested. Since 2020, 3,009 pipeline cross-connection and defect issues remained unrepaired. The Huludao Fanhe Water Affairs Company, the city’s largest treatment plant with a capacity of 120,000 tons per day, was processing only about 91,000 tons daily on average, yet overflow outlets on both sides were discharging untreated sewage directly into the Wuli and Lianshan rivers. Monitoring showed chemical oxygen demand (COD) reaching 16.2 times and ammonia nitrogen 59.4 times the Class III surface water quality standard. Inspectors also found that a water body reported as treated in September 2025 remained heavily odorous in February 2026, with ammonia nitrogen levels reaching 40.7 mg/L — classified as heavily black and odorous. Xingcheng City had reported no black odorous water bodies in seven separate inspections, yet inspectors found a 500-meter-long ditch filled with gray-white sewage.

Jilin: Rural Environmental Governance Failures in Siping

The Central Second Inspection Team uncovered systemic failures in Siping City, Jilin Province. Six rural sewage treatment stations built in 2024 had been left completely idle because the required 57.5 kilometers of collection pipes were never constructed. One station with a 400-ton-per-day capacity lacked 5.5 kilometers of branch pipes. Meanwhile, multiple livestock farms operated without manure collection facilities. At one farm, wastewater COD reached 1,360 mg/L — 67 times the standard — and ammonia nitrogen reached 138 mg/L, 137 times the standard. The situation was compounded by widespread illegal dumping of household and construction waste. In Tiedong District, approximately 1,300 cubic meters of mixed waste occupied over 1,700 square meters of farmland.

Heilongjiang: Agricultural Pollution Crisis in Mudanjiang

The Central Third Inspection Team documented severe agricultural pollution in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. The Dejiang Animal Husbandry Company discharged manure into surrounding farmland, forming a pollution ditch 140 meters long and 20 meters wide, with COD reaching 785 mg/L (38 times the standard) and ammonia nitrogen 114 mg/L (113 times the standard). The Longjiang Forest Industry Group was found to have installed hidden pipes to illegally discharge high-concentration养殖废水 (livestock wastewater), with COD reaching 1,700 mg/L — 84 times the standard — and ammonia nitrogen 404 mg/L, 403 times the standard. Inspectors also discovered that multiple rural black odorous water bodies had not been included in supervision lists. In Dongning City, 7 out of 23 waste mushroom cultivation bag dumping sites illegally occupied approximately 70 mu (about 4.7 hectares) of farmland, with about 5 million waste bags openly piled without proper containment.

Guangdong: Industrial and Construction Waste Crisis

The Central Fourth Inspection Team found that Zhaoqing and Chaozhou cities in Guangdong Province have been plagued by illegal solid waste dumping and landfilling. In Sihui City (Zhaoqing), one pit had accumulated approximately 48,000 tons of solid waste, filling 18 mu including 17.6 mu of agricultural land, of which 3.8 mu was permanent basic farmland — land legally protected for food security. Another pit held approximately 80,000 tons of waste occupying about 36 mu of agricultural land. In Raoping County (Chaozhou), 12 illegal oyster shell dumping sites held over 110,000 tons of waste, occupying 148.3 mu including 44.8 mu of agricultural land and 5.6 mu of permanent basic farmland. Water samples from these sites showed COD at 122.5 times, ammonia nitrogen at 411 times, and total phosphorus at 154 times the Class III standard. Additionally, approximately 400,000 tons of construction waste had been illegally dumped in Chao’an District, occupying 85.7 mu including about 71 mu of agricultural land.

Analysis: Systemic Patterns and Implications

The cases reveal several troubling patterns. First, there is a persistent infrastructure-implementation gap: facilities are built but left idle due to missing supporting infrastructure. Second, local governments are repeatedly reporting problems as resolved when they are not — a form of falsification that the inspection teams have explicitly labeled as formalism and bureaucratism. Third, agricultural pollution is a deepening crisis, with three of the four cases involving livestock manure and agricultural waste mismanagement. The encroachment on permanent basic farmland in Guangdong is particularly serious, as this land is constitutionally protected for national food security.

As China News Service reported, the inspections confirmed “a number of problems of formalism and bureaucratism including inaction, slow action, lack of responsibility-taking, lack of tackling tough issues, and even perfunctory responses and fraud.” The use of undercover inspection methods —暗查 (undercover checks) conducted between January and March 2026 — has been instrumental in revealing the extent of falsification.

What’s Next

The inspection teams have stated they will further investigate and verify the findings, with rectification measures to follow. The public naming and shaming mechanism is designed to pressure local governments into compliance, but the recurrence of similar violations across multiple inspection rounds raises questions about the effectiveness of enforcement. Observers will be watching for whether officials face disciplinary action and whether the identified water bodies and contaminated land will be remediated. The third round of inspections is expected to continue with additional batches covering other provinces.