Environmental quality has seen great improvement thanks to years
of sustained pollution control. In 2004, 41.7 percent of cities
recording air quality reached the national air quality standard of
Grade II; the rate for centralized disposal of urban sewage reached
42.1 percent, for hazard-free treatment of urban household garbage
58 percent, and for comprehensive utilization of solid industrial
waste 53.5 percent. According to national plan targets, by the end
of 2005, discharge amounts of main pollutants will be 10 percent
less than in 2000. Of these sulfur dioxide emissions will reduce by
20 percent and the rate of centralized disposal of urban sewage
will reach 45 percent. Pollution in most areas will be lessened,
the environmental quality of key cities and areas improved and the
trend of ecological deterioration curbed.
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To solve the problem of environmental pollution caused by more
and more electronic waste, relevant government departments are
formulating a system of electronic waste management that extends
producer responsibility. By requiring the producer to take partial
or full responsibility for the environment where the electronic
waste is abandoned, this system is meant to encourage greater
consideration of the environment and use of more recyclable
materials on the part of producers. At the beginning of 2004,
Zhejiang Province and the city of Qingdao were designated as
experimental sites for construction of a system of disposal and
recycling of waste household electric appliances and electronic
products.?
Since 2003, the State Environmental Protection Administration
has published an annual update on pollution control in national key
river basins and sea areas. Since the Three Gorges Dam started to
store water on 10th June 2003, water quality in the reservoir area
has not changed much from before. To ensure a safe water
environment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, the government
planned investment of some 40 billion yuan between 2001 and 2010
for control of water pollution in the reservoir area and the upper
reaches of the Yangtze River. According to the Plan for Control of
Water Pollution in Three Gorges Reservoir Area and the Upper
Reaches of the Yangtze River, by the year 2010, water quality at
the main control sections in the reservoir area and upper reaches
of the river should have met the Grade II standard stipulated in
the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water, and the
eco-environment in the reservoir area should be much improved. The
seriously polluted Taihu Lake Basin started to receive a special
“infusion” treatment from 2002?-- clean river water was
transported from the Yangtze River into this freshwater lake basin
covering an area of 36,900 sq km. Since its inception, this project
has made a distinct improvement to water environment of the Taihu
Lake Basin, benefiting a population of nearly 10
million.?
The program for prevention and control of water pollution, which
started in 2001, planned five years of projects in 1,534 cities,
with total investment of 103.63 billion yuan. These included
schemes for sewage treatment, control and prevention of water
pollution, control and prevention of agricultural and rural
pollution, etc. Most of the projects have been started, some are
already up and running.