Acid rain affecting more Chinese cities

Acid rain is affecting more of China’s cities with major rivers and lakes heavily polluted as a result of the rapid pace of economic growth, the country’s government says.

A report from the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) reveals that 66 per cent of household sewage was untreated last year, and “heavy pollution” affected some cities’ air.

The number of cities affected by ‘severe’ levels of acid rain has risen from 210 just two years ago to 218 now, says the report, the smoke from factories and power stations that burn coal seen as the most significant contributory factor.

Official efforts to reduce pollution in recent years have had limited success.

Wang Jirong, one of SEPA’s deputy directors said that the problems experienced by developed countries over the past century have been suffered by China in the past two decades alone.

However, there is growing public anger at pollution damage to agriculture, drinking water and fishing grounds, which is making the environment a key issue for the government.

The government has forced polluting factories to close, and is spending heavily on switching its power generation from abundant but dirty coal to cleaner natural gas.

In Beijing, the government is pouring money into moving polluting industries out of the city in an effort to clean up the Chinese capital before the 2008 Summer Olympics.

But economic growth, projected to pass 9 per cent this year, has fed soaring demand for power, causing shortages nationwide and forcing China to keep older coal-fired plants in service.

“Local governments and environmental protection bureaus in particular are insufficient in implementing and enforcing laws,” said Wang Yuqing, another SEPA deputy director. 

Complaints from the public to the agency about violations have gone up by 30 per cent a year, reflecting growing popular understanding of the law and the scale of problems.