A recent investigative report by CCTV's financial program has uncovered alarming scenes of rural sewage treatment failures. In Yezhuang Village, Tongshan District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, a small community of just over thirty households operates a sewage treatment station that merely circulates stored water in tanks, leaving the equipment running idle year-round. Even more absurd, some villages arranged for tanker trucks to draw water directly from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and pour it into the pipe network, fabricating the illusion of sewage treatment while untreated wastewater continues to flow straight back into the canal.

The problem extends beyond Jiangsu. In Xie Village, Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province, a complete sewage pipe network was installed, yet the treatment terminal was never built, allowing domestic sewage to continue discharging directly into the environment. Some treatment station yards have been abandoned, with equipment covered in cobwebs. These are not isolated incidents. From Jiangsu to Shanxi, rural sewage treatment projects are staging a farcical dual performance: on paper, they represent millions of yuan in livelihood investment, but in reality, villagers are sealing overflowing sewage wells with cement themselves. Acceptance reports claim normal operation, while the pipe networks carry untreated odorous wastewater.

The root causes are multifaceted. First, decision-making has been disconnected from reality. When local planning departments designed the pipe network projects, they failed to conduct on-the-ground surveys of village layouts or existing drainage patterns, resulting in infrastructure that does not match actual needs. A case in Shiduan Village, Tongshan District, shows sewage wells filled with black, foul-smelling wastewater reaching depths of 2 meters, significantly higher than the inlet pipes of villagers' homes. This high water level creates backpressure that prevents household sewage from entering the public network, while network wastewater instead flows backward into homes.

Second, shoddy construction has compounded the issue. According to media reports, road surfaces above sewage pipes commonly show uneven settlement, collapse, and cracking. After obtaining unified villager consent, excavators opened the sunken pavement to reveal that the underground pipes were surrounded by raw soil rather than the required sand and gravel backfill. How can such construction quality withstand the test of time?

What appears to be a technical or management issue is fundamentally a problem of skewed political achievement perspectives. Some localities treat rural sewage treatment as a showcase project for inspections, eagerly expanding scope and launching initiatives while channeling funds into visible hardware. They neglect the invisible components of pipe network integration and long-term maintenance. Construction is rushed through, but afterwards nobody follows up, repeating the chronic problem of prioritizing construction over upkeep.

To address this, strong action is essential. Accountability must be pursued swiftly for the exposed issues, tracing the full chain of responsibility from project approval, bidding, construction supervision, to completion acceptance. Every link requires assigned responsibility. Those who signed documents, approved checks, or released funds must be investigated thoroughly, and those guilty of dereliction of duty or falsification must face strict penalties without leniency.

Accountability cannot stop at the names on the exposure list. All localities should proactively conduct comprehensive inspections of sewage treatment projects within their jurisdictions, covering fund usage, project acceptance, and equipment maintenance, all under public scrutiny. Rural sewage treatment is a critical measure for improving living environments and advancing rural revitalization. It must not become a stage for grassroots formalism, nor can the public be left to bear the costs of fake projects. Punishment must be severe and effective to ensure livelihood projects genuinely serve the people's interests.