|
Provinces vow to clean up Huaihe
By Qin Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-25 21:57
The governments of four provinces along the Huaihe River have promised to
work hard to meet pollution control targets.
The four provinces -- Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Henan -- signed a paper
pledging to cut pollution along the river with the State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA), which was entrusted by the State Council,
according to the People's Daily.
The provinces have pledged to licence pollution discharges from next year,
build more sewage treatment, collection and distribution facilities and curb
agricultural pollution.
And, starting from next year, the four provincial governments will be
required to account for their pollution control work to the SEPA.
The administration will then check if the provinces are fulfilling their
pollution pledges and make a report to the State Council.
A State Council conference, attended by Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan, was held
over the weekend in Bengbu, Anhui Province, where the four provinces made
anti-pollution pledges.
Zeng told the conference that controls of over-polluting industries and
enterprises in regions along the river should be strengthened, according to the
People's Daily.
Both central and local governments should increase their investment in the
construction of sewage treatment facilities and sewage collection and
distribution systems, he said.
Non-government funds should be attracted to invest in the construction of
sewage treatment plants and sewage collection and distribution systems, Zeng
added.
The Huaihe river, the country's third-longest, supplies water for around 165
million people in Henan, Hubei, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces in Central and East
China.
Given the serious pollution of the river, the central government launched a
clean-up campaign ten years ago.
But pollution remains serious.
One of the latest examples was in late July, when unexpected rainstorms hit
the upper reaches of the river in Central China and swelled a number of
reservoirs, forcing them to discharge water simultaneously.
As a result, the accumulated polluted water created a dirty water zone that
contaminated the river and rapidly moved downstream.
In Xuyi County, East China's Jiangsu Province, one of the worst affected
regions, the incident killed 90 per cent of the county's aquatic products,
causing losses of 310 million yuan (US$37 million), according to statistics from
the local aquatic products bureau.
Qu Geping, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Environmental and
Resources Conservation Committee, said last month that pollution control along
the Huaihe is unsatisfactory because the river is managed separately by the four
provinces.
He suggested that the entire river region be managed by the State
Council.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
