The affluent Jiangsu Province has introduced an even tougher
regulation to curb water pollutants discharged into the Taihu Lake,
a source with the provincial environmental protection authority
said.
The new regulation, which is expected to take effect on January
1 next year, seriously demands that emissions of COD (Chemical
Oxygen Demand), ammonia nitrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus in
industrial waste water and sewage disposal must meet first class
national standards.
The Taihua Lake area is home to six major industries that have
caused most pollution in the lake, including dye, chemicals,
paper-making, steel-making and food manufacturing plants.
It is the first time for the eastern province to dramatically
raise the emission standard on water pollutants discharged into the
lake since it was affected by the large algae outbreak in June this
year.
The new regulation demands that by the end of June next year all
cities and towns around the Taihu Lake must improve the standards
of sewage disposal plants in line with tougher provincial emission
limits.
Under the new standards, COD emissions of sewage disposals into
the lake will be cut by about 50 percent, an official with the
Jiangsu environmental protection department, who declined to be
named, said.
The official estimated that about one-third of industrial plants
located in the Taihu Lake area will be closed or relocated after
the new regulation is implemented.
Sources with the provincial government also said some 3,000
small and medium-sized chemical plants, many located on the banks
of the lake, are to be closed down by the end of 2009.
(China Daily October 19, 2007)