SEPA: After the Storm(3)

SEPA has been forced to use such extreme tactics now that China's water pollution is reaching critical levels. When reviewing new water pollution control law for the National People's Congress, SEPA director-general Zhou Shengxian pointed out that underground water in half of the cities in China are seriously polluted and 300 million residents in rural areas are not guaranteed safe drinking water. At present, among the seven major water systems in China, Liao River and Hai River are highly polluted, and the Songhua River, Yellow River, and Huai River are moderately polluted.

China's water pollution prevention has yet to keep up with the pace of pollution mainly because some local governments refuse to change their development models. Aggravating the situation is what Xiong calls the "Three Conditions for Investigation", which is to say, polluters will continue to do so if locals do not intervene, if the media doesn't expose them, and if local government does not act.

Despite a recent flurry of environmental protection law, a lack of enforcement has resulted in a continuous stream of pollution incidents to the point where people are simply numb to them. According to Lei, enforcement must be adopted alongside any new regulations. Unfortunately, the restriction policy can't prevent environmental catastrophes, but only limit damage once its been discovered.

A Second Chance in October

SEPA is currently studying a list of candidate areas where restrictions are to be unfrozen. Lu Xinyuan, director-general of the supervision bureau of SEPA, tells us that SEPA would withdraw the policy only under the condition that these areas should meet every single of the seven requirements set by SEPA.

The EO has learned that SEPA will commission its provincial branches to carry out the re-assessments and report to the central authorities afterwards.