While China's booming coastal cities are stepping up efforts to protect the environment its inland provinces are producing more and more industrial waste.

 

"Even though China's coastal provinces are still the major source of sewage inland provinces have begun to top the list of industrial waste producers," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

 

Ma said that since governments of coastal cities had taken measures to reduce pollution some industries causing heavy pollution had moved to less developed inland areas.

 

According to a database launched recently by Ma's institution, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southwest China's Sichuan Province and north China's Hebei Province have since 2004 held the top three places in terms of organic waste in waterways.

 

Another inland province, Hunan, ranks first in discharging poisonous pollutants such as lead, chrome, cadmium and other toxic by-products of industrial production, according to the database. "I’m really shocked at how seriously and rapidly the inland waters are being polluted," said Ma.

 

The database, named China Water Pollution Map (www.ipe.org.cn/water), provides information on water quality and the source of pollution discharges in 300 cities across China. It also lists more than 2,500 enterprises accused of causing water pollution.

 

Ma, who has been tracing China's water problems for years, said controlling the country's water pollution is not a technical problem and local governments can afford the mechanisms. Ma criticized local officials for turning a blind eye to the environment in their pursuit of economic profit.

 

"Under the protection of local authorities some enterprises wantonly ignore their responsibilities and the cost of protecting the environment has been transferred from those enterprises to local people," he said.

 

The scholar also points out that many sewage treatment plants which were built with heavy public financing aren’t in operation.

 

Ma said local governments didn’t want to spend money to run sewage treatment plants. "Some environmental protection facilities have become image projects,” he said.

To solve the problem Ma said public awareness of environmental protection needed to be improved. He also suggested that victims of environmental pollution should be included in the decision-making body.

 

Water pollution has become a serious problem in China. Nearly 70 percent of the country’s rivers and lakes are polluted to various degrees.

 

China discharged 52.4 billion tons of waste water in 2005--up 26 percent form 2000. Only 52 percent of the waste water was treated before being discharged.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)