Wednesday, China's top legislature solicited public opinions on
a draft of the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, which
promises heavier punishments for water polluters and irresponsible
officials.
The General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) publicized the
draft, which has been submitted to the 29th session of the NPC
Standing Committee for the first review, inviting the public to
convey their opinions through the standing committees of provincial
or municipal people's congresses, the Law Committee of the NPC or
the NPC website.
All the opinions will be collected and submitted to the law
committee by October 10, according to the NPC general office.
According to SEPA statistics, the country saw 1,406
environmental pollution accidents in 2005, 49.2 percent of which
involved water pollution.
The draft law stipulates that the amount of pollutants
discharged into water by a factory should not exceed the limit set
by national or local regulations, and offenders will be fined
100,000 to one million yuan.
Those who discharge pollutants into drinking water sources will
be fined 100,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, the draft amendment
said.
Environmental protection officials who fail to set up a water
pollution emergency response scheme, delay reporting, or hide water
pollution accidents will receive administrative punishments or even
criminal charges, according to the draft bill.
Factories that reject supervision and examination from
environmental protection departments will be fined 10,000 yuan to
100,000 yuan, the draft amendment said.
After the first reviews, the NPC made the decision to publicize
the draft law to solicit public opinion and amendments based on
public opinion will be submitted for further review.
(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2007)
