The State Environment Protection Administration
(SEPA) announced the country’s first ever environmental emergency
measures yesterday, to check worsening pollution in China’s third
largest river and protect drinking water supplies for 150 million
people.
"Water quality in the Huaihe is worsening due to
serious pollution and a sharp drop in water flow. The water in some
parts is no longer safe for drinking," said Pan Yue, SEPA vice
director, at a press conference in Beijing.
According to the SEPA, water flow in the Huaihe
plummeted more than 30 percent in the first quarter of the year,
the dry season, and pollutants are accumulating in the river.
Water quality at 86 monitoring points in 56
tributaries of the Huaihe are rated 5 on China's water quality
scale, which goes from 1 to 5, with 5 being the worst.
Pan said the measures include ordering heavily
polluting enterprises to cut production or reduce discharge of
pollutants by more than 30 percent.
The move will involve at least 168 industrial
enterprises in the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe and will
last until the flood season in July, he said.
Meanwhile, the SEPA asked localities along the
river to ensure sewage treatment plants operate normally. Many
plants along the river seldom run due to high costs and shortages
of funds.
Pan attributed the pollution in the Huaihe mainly
to local protectionism, the mushrooming of polluting enterprises
and environmental laws’ lack of teeth.
Many local governments paid more attention to
"economic growth figures" than to sustainable development, and gave
tacit support to polluting enterprises, he said.
He said local environmental protection departments
do not have the power to shut down heavily polluting
enterprises.
"They can only fine them between 100,000 yuan
(US$12,000) and 1 million yuan (US$121,000), far below the cost of
installing and operating pollution treatment facilities," he
said.
Pan pledged that despite the difficulties, the SEPA
will continue its fight against pollution along the Huaihe.
The Huaihe runs through Henan,
Shandong,
Anhui
and Jiangsu
provinces in central and east China.
(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2005)