Shanghai environment authorities will install special monitoring equipment, similar to a "black box" on aircraft, in local companies to conduct round-the-clock online supervision of their sewage discharge.

The shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau has included 103 industrial producers and 13 sewage treatment factories with a daily sewage discharge volume of more than 500 tons each in the first batch where such equipment will be located, obliging them to put monitors into effect by the end of next year, officials said.

Being linked to the information terminal of the bureau, the monitor will keep a record of the factory's daily sewage discharge volume and chemical substances contained in the sewage.

Alarms will immediately ring if the sewage volume and pollutants recorded are beyond permitted discharge standards. Officials will follow the alarm to launch spot checks on the polluters and find out the reason for the alarm, the bureau said.

"Since the number of supervisors on our team is still limited, online monitoring is a good alternative for us," said He Chen, vice director of the Shanghai Environment Supervision Team.

Currently, the 103 industrial producers generate more than 832,000 tons of sewage every day, accounting for more than 70 percent of the city's daily sewage volume.

To encourage local enterprises to install the online monitor at the earliest, the bureau will subsidize up to 50 percent of the equipment cost if the firms get it running before the end of next year. The equipment set costs about 260,000 yuan (US$31,325).

(eastday.com December 9, 2003)