Authorities in northeast China's Jilin Province have announced a new target for
improving the water quality of the Songhua River, one of the most
heavily polluted in the country.
The target requires that by 2010, the total amount of chemical
oxygen demand (COD) in key pollutants discharged into the river be
reduced by 14.4 percent from 2005 levels, to less than 225,000
tons.
It also urges "high-risk" companies situated along the river to
develop rapid-response systems for dealing with pollution
emergencies.
"We will spare no effort to realize the target. We will closely
monitor the major polluters along the river, and those who do not
make the corrections within the timeframe will be ordered to stop
production at once, " Jiao Zhengzhong, Jilin's vice-governor,
said.
Plants that are not equipped to properly dispose of their sewage
or fail to meet the waste-discharge standards will also be shut
down, and the person in charge will be punished, he said.
"The local government is also working on a deadline to phase out
outdated small and medium-size companies across 13 industries,
including iron and steel, cement and papermaking, which are known
for being heavy polluters," Jiao said.
The target also demands all thermal power plants with a capacity
of up to 1,427 MW be closed within the next three years. Those with
a capacity of less than 275 MW will be closed by the end of this
year.
Wang Guocai, director of Jilin's environmental protection
bureau, said a centralized online system will also be introduced
this year to monitor the operations of several wastewater treatment
plants in Liaoyuan, Jilin, Siping, Songyuan and Yanji.
Also, fees will be collected for the treatment of sewage, which
will be used to pay for the construction and operation of central
treatment facilities, he said.
The ecological condition of the Songhua River and its
tributaries has been steadily deteriorating, with the latter being
more polluted last year than they were in 2005, Wang said.
In November 2005, the river was seriously affected by an
explosion at a petrochemical plant located at its upper reaches,
which spilled large amounts of benzene and nitrobenzene into the
water.
Millions of people in the city of Harbin at the river's lower
reaches were left without tap water for several days.
(China Daily June 26, 2007)