For thousands of years, rubbish and other pollutants have been
piled up along the banks of the Yangtze River? while sewage
flowed untreated into the river.
Despite the modern technology that has gone into building the
vast Three Gorges Dam, the ages-old custom of dumping waste in and
along the river has remained. During the annual flood season, the
tons of refuse are still being washed downstream by the rising
waters.
Although a great cleanup campaign has been under way for years,
the latest surveys show the number of areas complying with "green"
environmentally friendly policies is woefully low.
Still, there are some success stories.
Standing beside the operating treatment tanks of the Fuling
Sewage Plant, manager Shi Benggao says that Fuling District no
longer has to discharge sewage directly into the Yangtze and its
tributary, the Wujiang River.
The plant, which cost 320 million yuan (US$38.5 million), will
be capable of treating 140,000 tons of sewage per day when
completed, Shi said.
Fuling, a district of southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality, fronts a section of the huge Three Gorges
reservoir.
In Wanzhou, the largest district of Chongqing, two sewage
treatment plants have been operating since last year and treat
50,000 tons of domestic sewage per day. That is 85 percent of the
total within the district's service area.
Meanwhile, a refuse disposal plant that is capable of treating
400 tons of household rubbish every day is also operating in
Wanzhou, said Wu Zhenglong, a top official in the district.
Places like Fuling and Wanzhou are making progress but far more
needs to be done. In the coming years, at least one such facility
is to be built in each of the 19 counties or cities and over 100
towns around the Three Gorges Reservoir.
The reservoir started filling in June 2003 and the water level
is now at its planned 135-meter level.
To maintain good water quality in the Yangtze, the central
government implemented a 40-billion-yuan (US$4.8 billion) plan
aimed at building more than 320 facilities to dispose of sewage and
waste discharged upstream. They are scheduled to be completed by
2010.
When all the facilities are completed, 85 percent of the sewage
and waste in the reservoir area will be disposed of and treated,
according to Zhang Shaozhi, director of the Chongqing Municipal
Environmental Protection Administration.
The greater Chongqing metropolitan area is home to some 30
million people. Currently, 30 waste and sewage disposal plants
handle 81 percent of the waste and 61 percent of the sewage
produced in the city.
Before the Three Gorges Reservoir began to store water last
year, nearly 4 million tons of household garbage and industrial
waste had been disposed of and all medical waste from over 600
hospitals and clinics had been burned. Additionally, 5 million
square meters of sewers were disinfected in the Chongqing part of
the reservoir.
Last year alone, according to the State Council's Three Gorges
Project Construction Committee, 28 major urban sewage plants were
built to keep water clean in the reservoir area.
By the end of last year, 19 new garbage disposal plants went
into full operation in cities and towns along the reservoir. Work
on four other projects designed for hazardous industrial waste was
also begun.
When complete, the facilities should have under control the
garbage, sewage and industrial and medical waste that threaten
water quality in the reservoir.
Environmental concerns have been an issue hovering over the
660-kilometer-long reservoir area since it started filling last
year.
This year, Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of China Three
Gorges Project Corporation, told the media, "There have been no
major changes in water quality of the reservoir."
Last year, water at the site mainly stayed at grade three, the
minimum standard for sources of drinking water, according to the
China National Environmental Monitoring Center (NEMC).
This year, NEMC confirmed that the water quality of the
reservoir's Chongqing section has remained sound, although the
content of bacilli, oil and phosphorus slightly exceeds set
standards in its tributaries.
Although authorities are confident that the reservoir can be
kept clean, critics fear China has a long way to go to control
pollution effectively.
The water quality of tributaries on the lower reaches became
worse as the flow of water has slowed with the filling of the
reservoir. This has reduced the self-purification ability of the
tributaries, Chongqing officials conceded.
There are other problems. Public ignorance of effective
environmental protection and insufficient funds are compounded by
the failure of some environmental monitoring agencies to fulfill
their basic tasks. Planned industrial projects may also add to the
problem if environmental directives are not properly enforced.
Meanwhile, soil erosion upstream and from tributaries remains
unchecked and is contaminating water downstream, said Zhang.
The State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA) is urging further improvements
to pollution control.
Four months ago, SEPA found 51 of the 147 planned pollution
treatment projects had yet to begin construction.
Meanwhile, 206 of the 304 small enterprises that were ordered to
close for polluting the waterways are still operating. Many are
leather and paper plants.
Worse, only 15 of the 242 large companies emitting pollutants
have managed to meet environmental protection goals. SEPA has
repeatedly ordered them to speed up the implementation of green
policies.
Now the environmental watchdog has given offending companies and
authorities until the end of the month to implement new standards
and complete assigned pollution treatment tasks. It is threatening
to shut down large enterprises that fail to meet pollution-control
requirements.
Land-based polluters are not the only offenders. Tens of
thousands of cargo, transport and tour vessels ply the waters,
discharging untold amounts of untreated sewage and other harmful
waste into the Yangtze. Experts are calling for urgent action and
want owners and operators of these ships and boats to clean up or
face punishment.
State regulations demand all ships passing the Three Gorges area
to treat all waste products before discharging them into the river.
Solid waste must be dumped in designated areas on the shore.
But an investigation by Xinhua News Agency indicates that 99
percent of the vessels navigating the river discharge their sewage
and oil waste into the Yangtze River without treatment.
About 100,000 watercraft pass through the Three Gorges area each
year, producing 42,000 tons of rubbish, 7 million tons of human
waste, 15 million tons of sewage and 100 million tons of oily
wastewater, local environmental protection departments
estimate.
This poses a serious threat to the environment of the Three
Gorges Reservoir.
Environmental protection experts have urged authorities to take
immediate and resolute action to stop the pollution. They warn that
it will be too late if action is postponed until after the Three
Gorges project is finally completed in 2009.
"The situation remains grim and a lot of hard work has to be
done," said Zhang Shaozhi.
However, Lu Youmei, the former head of China Three Gorges
Project Corporation and now an academician of the Chinese Academy
of Engineering, is confident that water pollution in the reservoir
can be controlled.
Lu said, "The reservoir is now holding 12.3 billion cubic meters
of water, but it does not hold dead water in a closed pond as some
believe." The water can be refreshed 36 times each year by the 450
billion cubic meters of water flowing through the dam.
"Such water changes can occur at least 10 times per year even
after the entire project is completed in 2009. Then it will hold a
total of 39.3 billion cubic meters of water, once levels reach the
planned 175 meters," Lu explained.
Nevertheless, he agreed that environmental protection around the
reservoir and upstream should be improved to prevent chronic
pollution.
Meanwhile, Zhang is insistent. If the Three Gorges project is to
provide clean water and its environment saved, tough and urgent
measures are needed, and soon.
Zhang -- also a deputy to the National People's Congress --
together with other experts, is appealing for special legislation
to allow integrated management of the reservoir to ensure the safe
operation of the mammoth water conservancy hub.
"Only through legislation can the duties of the reservoir's main
administrator and the other parties concerned be clearly
defined."
(China Daily August 12, 2004)