China Says Water Pollution Double Official Figure

Emma Graham-Harrison, PlanetArk 10 Feb 10;

BEIJING - A new Chinese government survey of the country's environmental problems has shown water pollution levels in 2007 were more than twice the government's official estimate, largely because agricultural waste was ignored.

The data, presented by Vice Environment Protection Minister Zhang Lijun, revives persistent questions about the quality of Chinese official statistics and the effectiveness of a government push for cleaner growth after decades of unbridled expansion.

The first national census on pollution sources found that discharge of "chemical oxygen demand" (COD) -- a measure of water pollution -- in wastewater was 30.3 million metric tons, Zhang said.

The government had said in an official paper published two years ago that 2007 was the first year it managed to reduce water pollution, with COD falling 3 percent to 13.8 million metric tons.

The census has been years in the making, in part because it was extremely comprehensive, but possibly also because the contents include painful revelations like this one.

Zhang played down the difference between the totals. He said it was explained by the survey's expanded scope, the inclusion of agricultural sources of wastewater -- which contributed some 13.2 million metric tons -- and different calculation methods.

"The scope of the data was different, this time it included a survey of agricultural sources," Zhang told a news conference.

A more detailed survey of industrial and household emissions, and a different statistical approach also contributed to the leap. When these were accounted for, COD was only around 5 percent above the original 2007 figure, he said.

Figures for other pollutants did not suggest widespread fiddling of data. Acid-rain-causing sulfur dioxide emissions for example, were pegged at 23.2 million metric tons by the census and had been estimated at 24.7 million metric tons in the earlier data.

But whether the omission of agricultural pollutants was intentional or not, the fact that the government managed to overlook a major contributor to one of its benchmark pollution indicators is bound to raise concern.

MORE DATA NOT RELEASED

There may also be other serious problems that Beijing is reluctant to reveal. Activists who welcomed the effort to collect a more comprehensive picture of the country's pollution problem, also called for access to detailed results.

"It appears that the comprehensive pollution data from the census has not been made accessible to the public," Greenpeace Campaign Director Sze Pang Cheung said.

"We urge the government to immediately establish a strong platform through which the public could easily access a wide range of pollution data."

Zhang said the survey had given China a better handle on its challenges and the country in future would hope to increase the range of pollutants it monitored and controlled.

It was a sign of China's commitment to shifting its economic model, he added, which should allow it to cap pollution growth at an earlier stage of development than western nations.

"Because China has taken a different development path than other advanced nations, it is very likely that the peak of our pollution will come (earlier)," he said.

But he added that the government would not change the baseline or survey methods for a target of cutting wastewater pollution 10 percent by 2010 from 2005 levels.

"The emission reduction base was determined on the basis of 2005 environmental data, and so the targets...have to remain the same," he said.

Chinese farms cause more pollution than factories, says official survey
Groundbreaking government survey pinpoints fertilisers and pesticides as greater source of water contamination
Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk 9 Feb 10;

Farmers' fields are a bigger source of water contamination in China than factory effluent, the Chinese government revealed today in its first census on pollution.

Senior officials said the disclosure, after a two-year study involving 570,000 people, would require a partial realignment of environmental policy from smoke stacks to chicken coops, cow sheds and fruit orchards.

Despite the sharp upward revision of figures on rural contamination, the government suggested the country's pollution problem may be close to - or even past - a peak. That claim is likely to prompt scepticism among environmental groups.

The release of the groundbreaking report was reportedly delayed by resistance from the agriculture ministry, which had previously insisted that farms contributed only a tiny fraction of pollution in China.

The census disproves these claims completely. According to the study, agriculture is responsible for 43.7% of the nation's chemical oxygen demand (the main measure of organic compounds in water), 67% of phosphorus and 57% of nitrogen discharges.

At the launch of the paper, Wang Yangliang of the ministry of agriculture recognised the fall-out from intensive farming methods.

"Fertilisers and pesticides have played an important role in enhancing productivity but in certain areas improper use has had a grave impact on the environment," he said. "The fast development of livestock breeding and aquaculture has produced a lot of food but they are also major sources of pollution in our lives."

He said the ministry would introduce measures to improve the efficiency of pesticide and fertiliser use, to expand biogas generation from animal waste, and to change agricultural lifestyles to protect the environment.

While the high figure for rural pollution is partly explained by the immense size of China's agricultural sector, it also reflects the country's massive dependency on artificial farm inputs such as fertilisers.

The government says this is necessary because China uses only 7% of the world's land to feed 22% of the global population. An industrial lobby is pushing for even greater use of chemicals. It includes the huge power company CNOOC, which runs the country's largest nitrogen fertiliser factory in Hainan's Dongfang City.

But the returns on this chemical investment are poor. According to a recent Greenpeace report, the country consumes 35% of the world's nitrogen fertiliser, which wastes energy and other resources, while adding to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

"Agricultural pollution has become one of China's gravest environmental crises," said Greenpeace campaign director Sze Pangcheung. "China needs to step up the fight against the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides and promote ecological agriculture which has obvious advantages for human heath, the environment, and sustainable development of agriculture."

Wen Tiejun, dean of the school of agriculture and rural development at Renmin university, said the survey should be used as a turning point. His research suggested that Chinese farmers used almost twice as much fertiliser as they needed.

"For almost all of China's 5,000-year history, agriculture had given our country a carbon-absorbing economy but in the past 40 years, agriculture has become one of the top pollution sources," he said. "Experience shows that we don't have to rely on chemical farming to resolve the food security issue. The government needs to foster low-pollution agriculture."

But in what appears to be a statistical sleight of hand, the government said the new agricultural data and other figures from the census would not be used to evaluate the success of its five-year plan to reduce pollution by 10%.

Zhang Lijun, the environmental protection vice-minister, claimed China was cleaning up its pollution problem far faster than other countries during their dirty stage of development.

"Because China follows a different pattern of development, it is very likely that pollution will peak when per capita income reaches US$3,000," he said, comparing this with the $8,000 he said was the norm in other nations.

If true, it would suggest the worst of China's pollution problems may already be over. According to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, per capita incomes in China have already passed this point. If exchange rates and a low cost of living are factored in, Chinese incomes may be equivalent to more than $6,000.

But Zhang's claim is contestable. As countless pollution scandals have revealed, many industries and local governments routinely under-report emissions and waste.

Many harmful or controversial forms of pollution are either not measured - as is the case for carbon dioxide and small particle emissions - or the data is not made public, as is the case for ozone.

Zheng said the government would expand its monitoring system in the next five-year plan.

Extracts from China's first pollution report (for 2007):

• Sulphur dioxide emissions 23.2 million tonnes (91.3% from industry)

• Nitrogen oxide emissions: 18 million tonnes (30% from vehicles)

• Chemical oxygen demand discharges: 30.3 billion tonnes (44% from agriculture)

• Soot: 11.7 million tonnes.

• Solid waste: 3.8 billion tonnes (of which 45.7m tonnes is hazardous)

• Heavy metal discharges: 900 tonnes

• Livestock faeces: 243 million tonnes.

• Livestock urine: 163 million tonnes

• Plastic film on cropfields: 121,000 tonnes (80.3% recycled)