The Minister for
State
Environmental Protection Administration, Xie Zhenhua, Thursday
addressed a press conference in Beijing, and explained the
government's policies to adopt control of pollution and guarantee
water quality in the Three Gorges reservoir.
At
the press conference sponsored by the State Council Information
Office, he released the 2002 Report on China's Environmental
Status.
According to Xie, China has set up a water-quality monitoring
network for the Yangtze River valley and began to monitor water
quality on May 25. Till Wednesday, the monitoring results showed
that the quality of the reservoir water had no big changes, but the
pollution of fecal Escherichia coli is serious, especially in the
water from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It is still the
important work to build sewage treatment plants and solve the
problem of daily rubbish, especially human excrement and urine.
Xie said that in order to solve these problems, China has adopted
many effective measures and they are:
First, a reservoir pollution-preventing plan has been implemented
for more than two years. So far, all counties in the reservoir area
have begun to build garbage treatment plants and sewage disposal
plants, amongst which 60 percent of the sewage disposal plants will
go into operation this month. By the end of this year, except ones
in Chongqing (due to funding shortages), all sewage disposal plants
in the reservoir area will have been put into operation. By the end
of next year, with two of the biggest sewage disposal plants in
Chongqing being put into use, all areas above county level will
settle the problem of sewage disposal.
During this period, those towns which may directly pollute the
water in the reservoir must build garbage treatment plants and
sewage disposal plants also. Such projects are now under way in the
upper reaches of the reservoir with some 5 billion yuan already
invested. The total investment is designed to reach 20 billion
yuan.
Second, after water is stored in the reservoir, the water quality
in the caudal regions of the reservoir -- a dead water area and
water-control area -- will possibly turn out to be worse.
Therefore, it is necessary to implement water-purifying projects in
these areas so as to avoid severe pollution in these regions.
Third, ships are the main cause of oil pollution in the Yangtze
River, especially in the reservoir area. A specific legislation has
been jointly enforced by transportation authorities and local
shipping authorities. At the same time, ships are asked to adopt
some measures to reduce oil pollution and rubbish dumping.
Fourth, floating garbage has appeared on the river. The long-range
resolution is to build garbage treatment facilities. At present,
all over the drainage areas of the Yangtze River, including both
the countryside and the cities, people are used to piling garbage
beside the river to be flushed away by flooding, so only by
building garbage treatment facilities in cities and towns as well
as on the river's upper reaches, can the problem be settled
completely. Present measures artificially retrieve the garbage from
the water. Some big cities also have special retrieving
equipment.
(China.org.cn June 5, 2003)