China's Waterways Facing Major Chemical Pollution Risks

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China's Waterways Facing Major Chemical Pollution Risks

 

April 06, 2006 — By Associated Press

SHANGHAI, China — China's major waterways are threatened with severe pollution

because of poor planning and a lack of waste treatment facilities, a top

environmental official said in remarks published by state media Thursday.

 

A review of 127 major chemical and petrochemical projects found many were

located too close to major bodies of water, the official Xinhua News Agency

cited Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Agency, as

saying.

 

" These environmental risks cannot be solved within a short time, as the cost of

relocation of the projects is too high, " Pan was quoted as saying.

 

The inspections of the chemical projects, prompted by an explosion last November

at a chemical plant that released tons of toxic chemicals in the Songhua River

in northeastern China, found 20 with serious environmental safety problems, Pan

said.

 

The projects included oil refining, ethylene and methanol factories involving

60.6 billion yuan (US$7.6 billion; euro6.2 billion) in investments. Eleven were

located along the Yangtze River, one on the Yellow River and two at Daya Bay,

near Hong Kong.

 

The government has ordered those plants to take immediate actions to fix the

problems, and allocated 1.62 billion yuan (US$202 million; euro165 million) to

fund improvements, the report said.

 

The environmental agency has suspended approval of 44 projects with a total

planned investment of 149.5 billion yuan (US$18.7 billion; euro15.3 billion)

because of their locations.

 

China needs to further strengthen pre-construction environmental assessment

procedures to prevent future problems, Pan said.

 

The environmental agency has repeatedly seen its attempts to close down or stop

construction of projects accused of violating environmental safeguards

overridden or ignored.

 

The government earlier reported that China has suffered 76 more water pollution

accidents since the November spill into the Songhua River.

 

Some areas have reported progress in cleaning up heavily polluted waters, but

most canals, rivers and lakes are severely tainted by industrial, agricultural

and household pollution. Only a bit more than a third of the 3.7 billion tons of

waste water discharged by China's huge cities each year is treated.

 

Source: Associated Press

 

 

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