Soil pollution is causing serious damage to environment and
public health and is hindering the sustainable development of
agriculture, a top environment official warned yesterday.
"It is estimated that nationwide 12 million tons of grain are
polluted by heavy metals that have found their way into the soil
each year," Zhou Shengxian, minister of the State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA), said in a video conference.
"Losses (from the grain) have exceeded 20 billion yuan (US$2.5
billion)," he said.
Harmful substances accumulate in the soil, which are then
absorbed by crops that are consumed by people. This, he said, will
harm public health.
An incomplete investigation showed that currently 10 million
hectares of arable land in China are polluted. More than 2 million
hectares of soil is irrigated with wastewater, while 130,000
hectares of land is used to store waste materials, ministry figures
show.
"Currently the control and prevention efforts are ineffective,
because we lack some important information such as where the
polluted soil is, and how it is polluted," Zhou said.
There is currently no legislation concerning soil pollution, nor
is there a standard system for assessment, while some local
officials lack understanding of the issue. These factors have
created obstacle, Zhou said.
SEPA and the Ministry of Land and Resources will launch a
three-year soil pollution survey with a budget of 1 billion yuan
(US$125 million), it was announced yesterday.
China has 120 million hectares of arable land, 13 percent of its
land area. This equates to 0.1 hectares of arable land per person,
40 percent the global average.
(China Daily?July 19, 2006)