(China Daily) Updated: 2007-07-05 06:55
With contaminated drinking water surfacing in Shuyang County, East China’s Jiangsu Province, some 200,000 local residents could not get safe water from their taps for more than 40 hours. This is the second incident of its kind in a month in the same province, one of the richest in the country. It is beyond doubt that the Yihe River, the source of the county’s drinking water, was wantonly polluted although investigators are yet to determine the cause.

The conclusion by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) that water pollution has reached the point of posing a serious threat to the normal life of residents is no exaggeration. The repeated contamination of drinking water sends a somber message. Local governments’ apathy and inaction toward the increasingly hazardous water pollution can well be considered life-threatening political pollution. Local leaders’ business-as-usual all too often includes giving approval to the operation of polluting firms.

Premier Wen Jiabao stressed at a conference last week that pollution control and treatment in the country’s major lakes must be at the top of local governments’ agendas. This shows the resolve of the central government in environmental protection.

SEPA Deputy Director Pan Yue made the point that pollution cannot be stopped unless local government leaders are held legally accountable for the local environment. The repeated drinking water contamination incidents have already brought home the urgency of pollution control.
(China Daily 07/05/2007 page10)
For full article see http://www.chinadaily.net/opinion/2007-07/05/content_910483.htm

By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily) Updated: 2007-07-04 06:40 

No new industrial projects will be approved in several cities and industrial parks along four major river systems to prevent them from being further contaminated. Six cities, two counties and five industrial zones were indicted by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) for their role in polluting the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers. 

SEPA will not approve any projects for three months apart from treatment plants and recycling facilities; and the ban will not be lifted until the sources of untreated wastewater are shut down and treatment facilities installed. 

Pan Yue, vice-minister of SEPA, told China Daily that the environmental authorities had zeroed in on the areas following a thorough investigation. Surveillance by the environmental watchdog from January to April showed that water quality in these places was extremely poor, said Pan. Altogether, 32 heavily polluting factories and six wastewater treatment plants were blacklisted by SEPA and ordered to fix their “environmental problems” in three months. 

“Suspending approval of new industrial projects is the toughest measure that SEPA can take, given its (limited) authority,” Pan said. But he is worried about vested local interests. “Pursuit of short-term goals is leading to ever increasing pollution despite various measures,” Pan said. “Traditional ways of development have caused the near breakdown of China’s resources and environment; and people’s lives are in great danger.” 

Last year, polluted or seriously polluted water in the country’s seven major river systems accounted for 26 percent of the total. And water quality in seven out of the nine lakes under surveillance was so bad that it posed danger to human skin on contact. 

(China Daily 07/04/2007 page1) For the full article see http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/04/content_909239.htm