Officials to tackle Yangtze pollution
Environmental bureaus along the Yangtze river have been urged to crack down on water pollution, as the first part of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir is filled tomorrow.
The notice issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa) yesterday demanded the environmental agencies of Chongqing municipality and the provinces of Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan strictly enforce water quality control measures to protect the US$25 billion Three Gorges Dam, Xinhua said.
Tomorrow, the 2.3km-long, 185 metre-high dam's 600km reservoir will begin filling when engineers shut down its sluice gate. The water level will reach 135 metres by June 15. The dam, construction of which began in 1994, is expected to produce 18.2 million kw of electricity when complete by 2009. Tomorrow's stage is only the beginning of the storage operation. Two power generation units will be turned on in August, signalling the start of a new phase of construction. The two power-generating turbines, each with a capacity of 700,000 kw, will be followed on line by two others in October.
Yesterday's bulletin specifically called for strict inspections of water discharges from paper, smelting, textiles, machine industries and waste-water treatment plants. It also said that rubbish and oil leaks from boats must be controlled and that medical waste must not be dumped into the river.
To prepare for the filling of the reservoir, Xinhua reported that clean-up crews had already cleared away 1.99 million tonnes of garbage, 1.98 million tonnes of industrial waste and 15,000 tonnes of dangerous residue from the reservoir's riverbed.
In addition, the government will invest about 40 billion yuan (HK$37.8 billion) in the next decade to build hundreds of sewage and rubbish treatment plants to process 85 per cent of the region's waste.
Despite these government efforts, environmentalists have long expressed concern that the waterway remains too dirty to be diverted into the dam, which could create a massive cesspool.
In March, Sepa director Xie Zhenhua admitted water pollution upstream from the dam was higher than expected despite the shutdown of more than 1,000 polluting factories and construction of dozens of waste disposal plants.
