Three Gorges needs urgent pollution restrictions

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 02, 2004

Three Gorges needs urgent pollution restrictions

Pollution control in the dam area of the Three Gorges Project has not been up to ecological standards, according to the nation's top environmental watchdog, which is urging immediate improvements.

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Pollution control in the dam area of the Three Gorges Project has not been up to ecological standards, according to the nation's top environmental watchdog, which is urging immediate improvements.

According to the State Environmental Protection Administration, 51 of the 147 pollution treatment projects designed for enterprises in the dam area and its upper regions have not yet begun construction.

Meanwhile, 206 of the 304 small-sized enterprises that were supposed to be closed, including paper-making plants and leather production plants are still operating.

In addition, among the 242 large-sized enterprises that need to reduce pollutant discharges, 227 have failed to reach the goals that were specified for them.

The administration recently issued a circular demanding the hastening of the pollution control goals in the dam area.

By the end of August, all the pollution treatment projects for enterprises should have be started and supervision over enterprises that already meet discharge standards must be strengthened, the document states.

It also urges the phasing-out of small enterprises that are required to be shut down.

Large enterprises that cannot meet the pollution control requirements must upgrade their techniques. If they fail to do so, they will be ordered to stop production, officials said.

The Three Gorges project started in 1993 and was designated to generate electricity and contain floods on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

With an investment of 180 billion yuan (US$21.76 billion), the project is set for completion in 2009, and is expected to generate 84.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually for China, which has been hit by power shortages in recent years.

Environmental concerns have been hovering since the project was started.

In addition to the pollution caused by enterprises in the dam areas and its upper reaches, waste discharged by ships is also a big issue. Experts have called for an early solution to the problem.

Most of the ships in the dam areas discharge their sewage directly into the Yangtze.

The regulations state the sewage must be treated to meet a certain standard before it is released into the river.

At the Wanzhou port, a sailor was quoted as saying: "Our ancestors used to discharge things directly into the Yangtze River. Why should we stop discharging because the Three Gorges Dam is filled?''

Source: Xinhua

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