Pollution Woes Mount In China

If there is any positive news in a report released earlier this month by China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), it is that the country???s environment deteriorated at a slower pace than it has in recent years. The agency otherwise says economic growth is exacting a high price on the environment.

Last November, the northeastern China city of Harbin, home to 4 million people, had to shut off its water supply after an accident at an upstream petrochemical complex poisoned the Songhua River.

This was perhaps the worst of the 76 "environmental incidents" that China experienced in 2005—nine more than the year before—and it poisoned 536 people. Among the 76, SEPA classifies four as major, whereas 41 are "ordinary incidents." The others fall between those extremes.

Striking an optimistic note, SEPA says China's top decisionmakers are concerned about the environment, and they adopted new policies in December to promote sustainable development.

The agency also notes that progress was made last year in improving the cleanliness of China's coastal waters and the environmental management of major cities. And while the water quality of rivers such as the Huai and the Songhua worsened, conditions improved in the Pearl River and the Yangtze.

Widely perceived as well-intentioned, SEPA lacks the means to enforce national environmental standards (C&EN, Sept. 26, 2005, page 21). At the city and county levels, economic priorities and the personal interests of local officials often take precedence over environmental matters.

Discontented citizens are protesting. SEPA notes that disagreements between polluters and local residents were the source of 51,000 disputes recorded last year.