China has launched 260 projects to curb water pollution along
the eastern line of the south-to-north water-diversion scheme.
The projects are the largest of their kind, and involve total
funding of 13.6 billion yuan (US$1.64 billion). They will be
completed in two phases over the next five years.
An official in Beijing announced on Wednesday that, between this
year and 2007, 8.7 billion yuan (US$1 billion) is to be provided by
east China's Shandong
Province, which is one of the provinces hardest hit by drought.
The rest of the money is to come from Jiangsu
Province, where along the Yangtze flows.
Zhang Jiyao, head of the State Council office in charge of
water-diversion project, urged Jiangsu and Shandong "to make water
clean along the line running through their provinces."
He said: "Water security on the line, plagued by many chronic
sources of contamination, is vital to the diversion project."
The State Council has earmarked one-third of the budget for the
diversion canal for various pollution-control projects, including
waste-water treatment plants and facilities using recycled water
for industry and irrigation.
"Such intense investment is unprecedented for key water projects
built in China and shows the central government's decisiveness
about tackling the issue," Zhang said.
He added: "Although such huge investment is not easy for either
the central government or local authorities, we have to make
it."
Officials from Jiangsu and Shandong signed agreements on
water-pollution control with Zhang's office yesterday. The
officials promised to ensure that the quality of the water along
the line inside their provinces would reach at least grade III, the
minimum standard for drinking water, before 2007.
Under the agreements, hundreds and possibly thousands of
polluting enterprises along the eastern line will be forced to
close if they fail to meet the standard within five years,
environmental experts said.
Local authorities have to take responsibility for any new
pollution within their jurisdiction, Zhang said.
China started work in December last year on the gigantic project
to divert water from the mighty Yangtze River to the country's
parched north. There will be more than 1,000 kilometers of canal
built.
(China Daily October 17, 2003)