The vice-chairman of the National
People's Congress Standing Committee told top legislators in
Beijing yesterday that sewage discharge volume has increased
despite over 111.5 billion yuan (US$13.5 billion) having been spent
on water pollution prevention and control since 2001.
"Last year, water from half the tested sections of
China's seven major rivers was undrinkable because of pollution,"
Sheng Huaren said in his report on the implementation of the Law on
the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, adopted in 1984 and
amended in 1996.
Between 2001 and 2004, a total of 3,998 water
pollution accidents occurred in China and the water quality of the
country's major rivers has continued to worsen.
The Haihe, Liaohe, Huaihe, Yellow and Songhua
rivers were the most seriously polluted, according to the State Environmental
Protection Administration, and Sheng said the state of the
Yangtze and Pearl rivers was not much better.
"The water quality of the Yangtze faces the
possibility of worsening," said Sheng, and although the Pearl River
is in good condition as a whole, its Guangzhou section is seriously
polluted.
According to the Ministry of Water
Resources, over 300 million rural residents do not have access
to safe drinking water, and about 190 million people drink water
containing harmful contaminants.
Sheng urged the government to set detailed goals to
prevent water pollution and suggested more money be spent in
western regions, the upper reaches of rivers and poverty-stricken
areas.
The report also said some progress has been made in
industrial sewage discharge control. A total of 23.2 billion yuan
(US$2.8 billion) has been spent to improve industrial sewage
treatment capacity. Since 2000, 15,000 factories that caused severe
pollution and consumed large amounts of energy have been ordered to
close down.
The report said urban sewage treatment capacity had
also improved. Since 1999, the urban sewage processing rate has
risen from 32 to 45 percent.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency June
30, 2005)