Total ban on production cannot hide collusion of city govt with polluters

THE GOVERNMENT OF KUNSHAN, an industrial city in East China's Jiangsu province, has ordered all of the 270 enterprises under its jurisdiction to suspend their operations from Dec 25 to Jan 10 as an inspection is carried out to ensure the quality of the local river water meets national standards. The government has said that the order to suspend production will be prolonged if the annual check finds the water quality fails to meet the required standards. Thepaper.cn commented on Wednesday:

According to the Kunshan environmental protection bureau, the water quality in at least three examination spots along rivers in the county fails to meet the national standards by a large margin.

Although the enterprises claim their waste water directly flows into local sewage treatment works as required, local residents told the media that not all companies follow the rules, as some are found stealthily discharging their waste water into nearby rivers.