Ban slapped on polluting cities, zones
[ 2007-07-04 13:31 ]
No new industrial projects will be approved in several cities and industrial
parks along four major river systems to prevent them from being further
contaminated.
Six cities, two counties and five industrial zones were
indicted by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) for their
role in polluting the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers.
SEPA
will not approve any projects for three months apart from treatment plants and
recycling facilities; and the ban will not be lifted until the sources of
untreated wastewater are shut down and treatment facilities installed.
Pan Yue, vice-minister of SEPA, told China Daily that the environmental
authorities had zeroed in on the areas following a thorough investigation.
The cities are Chaohu and Bengbu in Anhui, Baiyin in Ningxia, Bayannur
in Inner Mongolia, Weinan in Shaanxi, Zhoukou in Henan; and the two counties are
Hejin and Xiangfen in Shanxi.
The industrial parks are in Wuhu in Anhui,
Lanzhou in Gansu, Handan in Hebei, Puyang in Henan and Shenxian County in
Shandong.
Surveillance by the environmental watchdog from January to
April showed that water quality in these places was extremely poor, said Pan.
In Chaohu, for example, 18 of the 23 industrial plants checked were
found releasing pollutants illegally into Chaohu Lake.
The lake was also
hit by outbreaks of blue and green algae last month, caused by lakeside
factories pumping untreated wastewater into it.
Altogether, 32 heavily
polluting factories and six wastewater treatment plants were blacklisted by SEPA
and ordered to fix their "environmental problems" in three months.
"Suspending approval of new industrial projects is the toughest measure
that SEPA can take, given its (limited) authority," Pan said.
But he is
worried about vested local interests.
"Pursuit of short-term goals is
leading to ever increasing pollution despite various measures," Pan said.
"Traditional ways of development have caused the near breakdown of
China's resources and environment; and people's lives are in great danger."
Despite the challenges, the green campaign will be extended to Pearl and
Liaohe rivers, the entire Yangtze River basin and some key sea coast areas, Pan
said. He also called for a joint effort by the ministries of environment, water
affairs, urban construction, forest and agriculture to tackle the problem.
Zhang Jianyu, a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, said: "The fact
that SEPA has to repeatedly rely on these drastic but sometimes controversial
measures to enforce some of the very basic environmental requirements reminds us
that there is still a long way to go to have an environmental management system
of full effectiveness and integrity."
Last year, polluted or seriously
polluted water in the country's seven major river systems accounted for 26
percent of the total.
And water quality in seven out of the nine lakes
under surveillance was so bad that it posed danger to human skin on contact.
(China Daily 07/04/2007 page 1)
（英語點津 Linda 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from
Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong
and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, producing current affairs shows and
documentaries. |
