Not good enough

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-06 07:00

The just-released 2006 report of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) finds generally stable environmental conditions, which is not an overall cause for celebration.

There are a few signs of progress. Although our consumption of energy and resources continued to surge, environmental conditions did not worsen much. It is somewhat reassuring to learn that the increase in pollutant discharge showed a "remarkable decline".

On the other hand, we still have to a lot to worry about.

Environmental conditions would have been much worse were it not for the central government's forceful moves to cut pollutant discharge.

By 2006, 30 percent of all thermal power generating units in China had desulphurizing equipment installed, up 18 percent from the previous year; and 57.1 percent of urban sewage was treated, up from 52 percent in 2005.

Both the compulsory quotas for reducing pollutant discharge and stricter law enforcement worked. No doubt about it.

But the limited results also remind us that much greater work is needed for substantial headway.

The call for a 10-percent drop in overall carbon dioxide and chemical oxygen demand discharge that the country's 11th five-year (2006-2010) development program stipulates appears illusive. In fact, increases, not declines, were seen on both fronts in the past year. Without dramatic measures, we see little hope of progress in the near future.

Air quality was said to be improved "in general". But only slightly.

The more unsettling story is about water, which is referred to as "moderately polluted". The high hydrogen nitride and nitrogen content, increasingly evident pollutants in our water, has not been taken seriously until very recently.

Our national standards regarding hydrogen nitride and nitrogen are low. Our current sewage treatment facilities are not equipped to deal with them. Over use of chemical fertilizers is another leading culprit.

But SEPA expressed guarded optimism yesterday as it published the 2006 report. It cited a slight drop in hydrogen nitride release in the first quarter of 2007. SEPA even talked about a "turning point" this year.

We hope to see it. But we need to raise standards, upgrade equipment, and refine production. That entails harder work, not just on the part of SEPA.

(China Daily 06/06/2007 page10)

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