Water Pollution in China

Following up on the green GDP post from a few weeks ago, a few recent articles highlight both the severity of China's environmental problems, and the government's growing efforts to address those woes. Despite the indefinite suspension of the 2005 green GDP this past July, it appears that Chinese officials are not deviating from their broader mission to tackle pollution and the serious health risks it presents.

Chinese state media reported this week that water pollution in China currently threatens the health and safety of one sixth of the population (see Reuters article). River water in many parts of China is unfit to touch, let alone drink. This not only directly threatens the diets and health of many Chinese but also compromises the food supply in how it affects the fish population and the irrigation of crops. Such water conditions become especially dire when considering that many parts of China suffer from a shortage of water to begin with.


Rapid economic development, corruption, poor pollution laws, and lax enforcement of those laws, all have contributed to the current state of the environment in China today. Water pollution is a major component of that. For example, a state study of Zhukou city in Henan province found that 15 of 23 factories were illegally dumping waste into the water supply (see Reuters article). Part of the problem is factory owners neglecting pollution regulations and local officials turning a blind eye, but another part of the problem is insufficient restrictions and weak enforcement mechanisms for violators. Chairman of the National People's Congress's (NPC) Environment and Resource Protection Committee, Mao Rubai, recently remarked that pollution standards for some industries are too low to make a dent in China's battle against environmental degradation (see Reuters article).

Over the weekend, officials (from SEPA, I believe) made a step to change this sour state of affairs. They put forward a draft amendment to the Standing Committee of the NPC to amend the water pollution prevention and control law to incorporate harsher penalties for pollution violators and better monitor and enforce pollution regulations. Major clauses of the bill include:

• Lifting the existing pollution penalty cap of 1 million RMB and replacing it with 20% to 30% of the cost of the pollution


• People responsible for major accidents will be susceptible to prosecution


• Introducing a licensing system for emitters of waste water containing toxic or radioactive materials; No license, no pollution


• Placing extra emphasis on protecting drinking water sources


• Strengthening emergency response system for water pollution accidents (see article)

The proposed amendment comes just weeks after SEPA announced that 30 firms would be blacklisted for gross pollution violations, barring them from receiving bank loans (see BBC article).

A change in political culture appears poised to accompany this apparent legal offensive against illegal polluters, a logical compliment considering how lax or corrupt political enforcement at the local level enables industrial polluters. Ma Kai, chief of the National Resource and Development Commission (NRDC), recently revealed that "meeting energy and pollution reduction targets would be made a major factor in considering promotions for provincial-level officials," (see Reuters article).

While these steps strike me as the right way to approach the issue, it remains to be seen if they will produce results. China's struggle against environmental pollution in recent years has been little more than just that - a struggle. The country failed to reach the 2006 benchmarks for pollution reduction and energy consumption per unit GDP as put forth in the most recent five-year plan (see IHT article), (Beijing's 11th Five Year Plan aims to reduce energy consumption per unit GDP by 20% between 2006 and 2010 and lower major pollution output by 10% in that same period). In fact, pollution...at least water pollution...was on the rise in 2006, with the chemical oxygen demand, a water pollution index, rising by 0.24% in 2006.

It is hard for me to gauge to what extent national laws, blacklists, and the prospect of political promotion have played a role, or failed to play a role, in the counter-pollution effort. Thus, it is even harder to gauge how those factors will play a role in turning the tide in the fight against pollution. On paper, it certainly helps to redefine regulation and introduce political penalties to local officials, in addition to fiscal and legal consequences for polluters. In reality however, the prevalence of lower-level government corruption, the dominance of a profit-first economic culture, and obvious institutional deficiencies in the anti-pollution regime, suggest that these measures may not be as impactful as they should be. Perhaps, as Hu Jintao consolidates his power, and the anti-corruption, anti-pollution, pro-harmony generation leaves its mark on China's future development, these obstacles will erode away. Until then, China has a lot more to clean up than just river beds.