During the period from September to October 2017, the China Environmental Monitoring Center discovered through routine inspections of the national air-conditioning monitoring stations. Feiyu, Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province and Nanwan Waterworks, Xinyang City, Henan Province, operated near the two state-controlled sites. The mist sprayed directly on the air quality monitoring sampling port and the surrounding environment. This behavior interfered with the normal conduct of environmental air quality monitoring activities. The Ministry of Environmental Protection sent letters to the two provinces and charged them with serious investigations. The two places have been investigated and verified by the authorities, and according to the law, according to the law, they have been given administrative sanctions such as dismissal, administrative demerit, administrative warning, defamation, and criticism.

  In order to further strengthen warning education and strictly prohibit any form of environmental monitoring and interference behavior, the Ministry of Environmental Protection recently issued the“Notification on Recent Urban Environmental Air Quality Automatic Monitoring Sites Related to Spraying Interference”(hereinafter referred to as the “Notification”). It is required that all localities conduct inferences from the others and intensify the investigation to ensure that monitoring facilities are not interfered with.

  The "Announcement" pointed out that the occurrence of the above two cases revealed that an effective mechanism for preventing and punishing the falsification of environmental monitoring has not been established in some places, and it has not been able to ensure that the independent operation of environmental monitoring is not interfered with.

  The "Notification" requires all localities to take warnings and consolidate responsibilities to ensure that environmental monitoring data are true and accurate. The first is to increase propaganda and improve ideological understanding. Environmental protection departments at all levels shall strengthen the publicity and training of important documents and laws and regulations such as the“Opinions on Deepening Environmental Monitoring Reform and Improving the Quality of Environmental Monitoring Data”(hereinafter referred to as“Opinions”) in the China Office and the State Council. Timely exposure to investigate and deal with typical cases, effectively improve the ideological awareness and bottom line awareness of relevant departments and personnel, and take effective measures to ensure that environmental monitoring is not disturbed. The second is to strengthen communication and coordination and establish a sound responsibility system. All localities must conscientiously implement the "Opinions" and establish and improve the responsibility system and working mechanism for preventing and punishing the deception of environmental monitoring data. The environmental protection department must strengthen communication and coordination with relevant departments such as urban management, municipal administration, and construction, set up warning signs beside the site, and strictly prohibit non-operators from entering the surrounding environment of the site. Resolutely banning equipment and facilities that affect and interfere with the normal operation of urban air quality monitoring. It is forbidden to spray the ambient air quality to automatically monitor the site sampling platform. The third is to increase inspection efforts to ensure the quality of monitoring data. The environmental protection agencies (bureaus) of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) should conduct indiscriminate investigations and carry out comprehensive investigations. At the same time, according to the“12369”environmental hotline report and other clues, the investigation and punishment efforts should be strengthened. If any interference is found, it is necessary to deal with relevant units and responsible persons in accordance with laws and regulations, and resolutely eliminate the occurrence of similar problems, and publicly report the results of the investigation to the public.