Recently, CCTV's "Financial Investigation" program exposed that rural domestic sewage treatment projects in multiple villages in Chengyang District and Jimo District of Qingdao, Shandong Province, are "fake projects." The sewage wells that were built are merely for show, the sewage treatment facilities exist in name only, and the covers of the sewage wells break apart with a single pry. There are also problems such as fraudulent claims of toilet renovation subsidies. The projects have degenerated into "showpieces" and "jerry-built" and "half-finished" projects. Funds have been invested round after round, yet the people's sewage disposal problems have never been resolved.

　　Rural domestic sewage treatment has always been a key task in building a beautiful countryside and improving the rural living environment. Addressing the shortcomings in rural domestic sewage treatment is also one of the livelihood issues rural residents most hope to see improved. While resolving the urgent difficulties and anxieties of local residents regarding domestic sewage discharge as soon as possible, the real issues behind the "fake projects"—how the fraud was brazenly carried out, how they passed completion acceptance, whether the construction funds were used for their designated purposes, and where the fraudulently claimed funds flowed—are probably in even greater need of thorough investigation and serious handling.

　　Although rural domestic sewage treatment projects are mostly "invisible" underground works, they are all carried out right under the noses of the villagers, and villagers often know simply by trying whether they work after completion. Such brazen fraud should, by all logic, be hard to conceal from everyone. Yet such a "fake project," fraudulent in every respect, still appeared openly, which inevitably makes one question where the units involved in the fraud found the nerve.

　　These "showpieces," "jerry-built" and "half-finished" projects that any discerning person could identify at a glance nonetheless smoothly passed acceptance by higher-level departments. It seems that whether they can be used normally after acceptance is simply the villagers' own business. This shows that the "fake projects" reflect a cascading collapse and a full-chain failure of local supervision over rural domestic sewage treatment projects, and that the purposes and principles of serving the people and doing practical things for the people have been thrown completely out the window.

　　In the "fake project" issue, there is another core question worthy of close attention, namely "where did the money go." To build a beautiful countryside, the local government invested funds round after round, yet in the end even the most basic domestic sewage treatment issue concerning the sanitation of the living environment was not resolved. So where was all that money spent? And into whose pockets did those fraudulently claimed toilet renovation subsidies flow? If these questions about the use and flow of funds can be thoroughly investigated, the people who violated discipline and law by attaching themselves to the "fake projects" will probably all be exposed.

　　In addition, the road hardening project in the local beautiful countryside construction also has quality problems. There are even "reserved" special plots where the cement quality and thickness meet standards, to be used for coping with inspections by higher-level departments and project quality testing. "Putting on a full show" is truly both laughable and exasperating, and the severity of local formalism and other unhealthy tendencies can be seen from this.

　　After the media exposure, both districts intervened to investigate at the first opportunity and both stated that they would conduct comprehensive inspections of rural domestic sewage treatment projects throughout their districts. It is to be hoped that the relevant statements are not merely for the purpose of responding to public opinion, but are genuine immediate rectification from the standpoint of the people. The local authorities must absolutely not repeat the mistakes of the "fake projects" in investigation and handling, because only by conducting genuine investigations and genuine handling without mercy, no matter which department or which leader is involved, can they truly win back public support, restore confidence, and win people's hearts.