China: managing environmental challenges

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Music, Music.

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In common with the rest of Asia, China is struggling with widespread damage to its environment.

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Increases in population, industrialization, and rapid movement of people to cities are also placing new pressures on natural resources.

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Recently, Asian countries have seen the exponential growth in pollution, traffic and toxic wastes.

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The economies of these countries are doubling roughly every 10 years by pollution, energy use and the number of vehicles are increasing by factors of 5/8 even 10.

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Water pollution, air pollution, solid waste management, and inappropriate land use are four key problems in East Asian cities.

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Today, China is demonstrating that even the world's biggest and the most polluted cities can take actions to prevent further environmental deterioration and to reverse some of the damage.

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Its rapid growth and industrialization have led to severe problems of water pollution and atmospheric contamination, and the pricing of coal and the water has contributed to much waste, while the sheer size of China's population and the country's natural resource constraints have made the situation especially acute.

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Half of the world's 10 most polluted cities are in China, and many other Chinese cities do not meet the air quality standards set by the United Nations World Health Organization.

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2/3 of the total amount of sulfur dioxide emissions in Asia are generated in China.

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Sulfur dioxide is a precursor to acid rain, and urban emissions of these substances are expected to double or even triple in China over the next two or three decades.

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Already the damage from acid rain can be seen in many areas.

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China is also the world's single biggest producer and the consumer of ozone depleting substances.

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With its rapid economic growth, the use of CFCS has increased dramatically.

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Before economic reform in the 1980s, two decades of heavy investment in industry took place with little attention to Environmental Protection or basic infrastructure.

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Let's look at some of the issues, note some examples of what the government is doing about them, and see how the World Bank is helping.

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Few countries are as dependent on coal for energy as China is.

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More than 1 billion tons are consumed annually.

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This is expected to increase to about 1.5 billion tons by the end of the century.

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When this mostly low grade coal is burned, it causes serious atmospheric pollution from airborne particulate and sulfur dioxide emissions.

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Coal is used mainly for dust or production and power generation, but it is also a major source for heating and cooking of individual households.

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Three major health risks have been associated with the domestic use of polluting fuels.

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Acute respiratory infection, which is a major killer of children under the age of five.

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Chronic lung diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema and asthma.

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China's rapid economic growth means that people increasingly are abandoning the bicycle for motor vehicles.

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Rising consumer demand for motorcycles and cars may be good for the economy, but if car ownership continues to expand, as it has in industrialized countries, it'll become a major environmental challenge.

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Vehicle emissions are already reaching toxic levels in some cities.

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Water quality is another major concern throughout the developing world.

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Some 90% of sewage is released untreated, usually into water bodies.

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China is no exception in this.

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More than 40% of newly built urban areas lack sewer systems.

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In many cities, rainwater and urban wastewater flows are discharged through the same pipe, into rivers or through groundwater.

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As early as the 1980s, more than 300 cities were short of water, and in 100 of them the shortage was critical.

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Drinking supply for 1/4 of the population does not meet acceptable standards.

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Toxic and hazardous wastes are becoming a major environmental problem.

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Hazardous wastes, mainly produced by petrochemical tanning and the chemical industries, are collected and disposed of in a largely uncontrolled manner.

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Volumes of waste, already large, are increasing.

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Very little is recycled.

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About 80% of solid waste comes from industry, most of it coal ash.

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Urban residents generate 10% more waste each year due to lack of collection and treatment facilities.

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Much solid waste and night soil are piled up or improperly buried.

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In recent years, central and local authorities have enacted a comprehensive set of environmental laws, regulations and standards.

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These measures emphasize prevention and are based on the principle that the polluter should pay.

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The next step will be to strengthen environmental management and intensify enforcement.

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To illustrate how the government of China and the World Bank are collaborating to overcome these problems, we will look at the cities of Beijing and Shanghai and Urban Development in the provinces of Liaoning in the north and Georgiang South of Shanghai.

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Liaoning Province has limited the water resources.

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25,000,000 of its people live in or around cities, which have grown rapidly due to migration from rural areas.

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Liaoning has become one of China's major industrial bases due to large reserves of iron ore, coal and oil.

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Pressure on water resources is particularly acute around the capital of Shenyang.

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Here, an area which is less than 1/5 of the province supports about 15,000,000 people.

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A number of cities in this water basin are major centers of industry, generating a significant proportion of national industrial output.

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This degree of industrial activity coupled with limited treatment of wastewaters imposes severe stress on the water environment.

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Water supplies are critically dependent on two rivers.

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River water quality feels to comply with the national water quality standards.

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The situation is particularly acute in the case of cities such as Shenyang and Fushun, which are close to the headwaters of the Horn River.

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The flows are controlled by operating multi purpose reservoirs upstream.

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The pollution from these cities contaminates the river for considerable distances downstream because of the restricted dilution and the heavy pollution loads.

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When water resources close to cities are degraded with pollutants, water must be transported from a long distance sources at substantially higher cost.

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For example, in Fushin, at the recently completed bank financed water supply project, the intake and it's sedimentation tanks are situated some 90 kilometers from the city.

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The next intake will be even further away, which means cost will be even higher.

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Industry uses most of the water in every city, typically about 70% of the total consumption.

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The provincial government and the bank are working together to solve the water quality and supply problems in Leonie by combining wastewater treatment with recovery and reuse of treated wastewater.

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Industry is being encouraged to conserve water and improve some of its processes through modernization.

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The city of Fushun, for instance, will soon provide primary wastewater treatment to a substantial portion of the total wastewater flows which are currently discharged directly into the river systems.

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After the project is completed, about 30% of flows will be treated, which will significantly improve the water quality in the Hun River, which is a major source of drinking and agricultural water to the community.

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In nearby Ben Shi, another industrial city, most wastewater will be collected and treated by state-of-the-art wastewater treatment system.

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At least another 10% of wastewater will be eliminated by improving the technology at a large nearby steel mill.

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Both these measures will provide considerable improvements in water quality and Environmental Protection.

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Shanghai is another example of how the government and the bank are working together to protect and improve water quality.

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Safe wastewater disposal combined with locating Shanghai's main water supply intake in the safe location is essential in order to enhance system quality and reliability.

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Every day in Shanghai, more than 5,000,000 cubic meters of sewage is produced.

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90% of it was being discharged into creeks and rivers before the municipal government started its program with bank support.

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This situation is familiar throughout the developing world and in most other Chinese cities.

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Living standards are also rising rapidly, and when people move to new apartments, their circumstances change.

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Before, they had to fetch water from outdoor faucets and there was the daily ritual of night soil buckets.

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Their new life includes many modern conveniences such as flush toilets, running water in the kitchen and a nice bathroom, often boasting a washing machine.

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All these extras increase the flow of domestic pollutants.

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Water courses while sewage is being dumped are interconnected with the Huangpu River, which supplies Shanghai's drinking water.

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The sewage causes major environmental and ecological damage.

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Fish cannot live in the lower Huangpu River and shellfish downstream have dangerously high pathogen levels, which can cause serious illness when eaten.

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River tides Dr.

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pollutants upstream as far as the present intake for the city water supply.

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The bank supported program has focused on intercepting wastewater flows previously discharging into the Sujo Creek and on financing the construction of a new water supply intake further away from the city.

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The objective is to improve the water quality in the vast rivers and canals crossing the city and to provide safe drinking water for the residents.

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The first phase of the program is already in operation.

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A large diameter wastewater conveyor system intercepts effluents that otherwise would have gone directly into the canals of river systems and carries the wastewater to the Yangtze River.

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Driving the effluent is the Pengyupu Pump Station, the largest in Asia with eight pumps handling 40 cubic meters a second against a pumping head of 22 meters more.

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Pump stations and a pretreatment plant are on the 33 kilometer journey to the Art Fall in the Yangtze River.

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A second Art Fall is currently under construction.

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It is an impressive site with a 1 1/2 kilometer tunnel being constructed under the river.

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It has a diameter of more than 4 meters and will join up with the river 17 meters below the surface of the water.

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At this depth, the discharge sewage will be rapidly diluted and dispersed, making minimum impact on the environment.

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The present water supply intake for Shanghai is located on the Wangpu River within the city.

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It is heavily polluted and must therefore be moved.

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Under one of the projects, a new intake is being constructed some 30 kilometers further upstream at a place called Darchar.

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This intake will have a capacity of almost five and a half million cubic meters of water a day.

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It is designed to handle Shanghai's peak demand up to the AIR 2008.

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The design provides for a 50% expansion in the system.

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These wide concrete culverts will convey the water to the underground intake pump house.

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Most construction sites in China feature astonishing combination of new and old technologies.

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Work progresses at a great speed, wide conveyors are put into the ground to lead the water to various treatment plants and finally to the 12 million consumers in Shanghai.

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To ensure a better water supply for the city, one of the projects will clean and protect the whole catchment area.

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Presently, cities, agriculture and industries discharge into many of the small creeks and rivers.

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Then, the polluted water ultimately finds its way into the Wanker River upstream of the intakes.

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This water will now be treated, and a water quality laboratory has been set up to monitor the quality continuously at the intake and within the entire catchment.

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The water supply system under construction in Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province is another example of collaboration between the government and the bank.

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The main components of this project include intake and treatment plant on the Chiangtang River and an 8 kilometre transmission main will lead the water to the city from where it'll be distributed to the consumers.

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There are serious air pollution problems in the city of Fushun.

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In common with many cities in China, there are large concentrations of airborne particulates and sulfur dioxide, particularly in winter.

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These problems developed when poor quality coal with high sulfur content is used to generate heat and electricity, and the problems are compounded by inefficient use of energy, lack of emission controls and the discharge of pollutants close to ground level.

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Particularly in the domestic use of coal, when temperature inversions occur, atmospheric pollutants become trapped close to the Earth's surface and create smog.

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Air pollution is even worse in the city of Benji.

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Benqi is a Center for iron, steel and cement production.

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The pollution is partly due to the location in the River Valley surrounded by hills.

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This topography produces temperature inversions that dramatically restrict the dispersion of the substantial quantities of air pollutants discharged by the local industries.

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About 7 million tons of poor quality coal are burned each year in Benqi.

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The air quality problems here and the other cities of Liaoning are too severe to be solved as soon or at a reasonable cost by emission controls alone.

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Reducing air pollution will require action at all stages, beginning with finding different sources of fail.

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The Bank supported government program has three elements.

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The first will virtually eliminate fugitive emissions from Benzies, 4 coke ovens and two blast furnaces.

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The city is frequently covered in the heavy Gray smog.

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The city disappeared from the satellite maps many years ago, only now is it starting to re emerge again.

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The second element of the Ben Shi project established a district heating company to deliver hot water to radiators in the homes of 1/4 of Ben Shi's population.

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Introducing district supplied heating reduces pollution by enabling residents to get rid of their old and inefficient boilers and briquette stoves as urban renewal progresses.

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Old neighborhoods with substandard sanitation facilities will disappear.

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Home owners will be given a modern apartment in exchange for their former dwellings.

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Replacing inefficient boilers and stoves in the old residence with district heating units will contribute to improving air quality.

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It will also eliminate 39,000 tons of highly polluted wastewater a day.

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Similar activities are being undertaken in many other areas of China.

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In Beijing, more than 20 million tons of coal are burnt each year by domestic boilers in small stoves to reduce pollution.

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The bank has financed a major part of Beijing's district heating system.

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One of the big power plants has been reengineered to cogenerate space heating and hot water supply, and a new plant has been built to supply heat during peak periods.

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Together these plants serve about 800,000 people in the western part of the city.

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The long term plan is to have the district heating system supplying nearly all heating.

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Town or bottle gas will serve for cooking, and this gradual elimination of coal burning devices has already reduced pollution substantially.

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Beijing has introduced the range of environmental management systems for reducing industrial pollution, including the polluter plays principle of environmental management.

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Administrative sanctions and economic incentives are being used to encourage a change of behavior.

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The aim is to introduce clean technologies, reduce the consumption of raw materials, promote energy efficiency and minimize waste and the necessity for treatment.

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For three of the worst chemical plants, a 5% increase in output was met with a 5% decrease in COD discharges.

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The rehabilitation of this vinyl acetate plant, one of the major polluters in Beijing, was financed in part by World Bank loan.

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The bank is also an implementing agency under the Montreal Protocol to help China phase out ozone depleting substances by the year 2010.

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The government is starting to implement new policies, including regulation of supply and controls or bans on certain ozone depleting substances.

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The municipal and district governments and the neighborhoods share responsibilities for domestic solid waste collection and disposal services.

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People carry waste from their homes to a neighborhood to pick up points where it is collected between 3 and the seven times a week.

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While collection services generally are good, the actual disposal of the waste in urban China is poor.

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Most municipal solid waste is placed in unmanaged dumps on the fringes of urban areas where it contaminates aquifers and the surface water.

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Most industrial waste is simply left in place.

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Beijing is one of the few municipalities that has developed a solid waste management plan.

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75% of solid waste will go to properly managed landfills, 7% will be burned, and the remainder will be dispersed by other methods such as composting.

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Under this plan, the container is loaded at a local collection point and then transported to one of several big transfer stations.

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Here, the waste is dumped into storage bins, then loaded into special trucks which will carry it to landfill sites in the countryside.

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These sites control leachate and the gas migration.

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The total area of the landfill size is 72 hectares and is able to receive 2000 tons of refuse a day over a decade.

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Finally, let's examine Urban Development and the provision of services, number of banks supported.

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Projects also focus on improving the general living and working environment for urban residents.

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Older neighborhoods are being upgraded with wider streets.

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All projects take care to preserve historic buildings and cultural sites of importance.

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Ningbo City in Jejang province is a good example of this preservation approach.

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Ningbo's history goes back some 7000 years and in the old city around Moon Lake, there are buildings and temples of great historic significance.

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This temple that was located in a right of way was moved to this location by the lake.

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In another case, the alignment of the road was changed in order to preserve this ancient Buddhist temple.

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Another aspect of urban renewal is resettling families from substandard and crowded housing into apartments with newly developed residential areas, providing them with essential services.

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In Sha Sing, in another bank supported project, the attractive and historic city close to Lingbo, additional features were added.

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A complete satellite city for some 30,000 people is being developed in an area where farms and rice pad has previously existed.

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Farmers are compensated for lands used and are also moving to modern apartments with all conveniences.

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Besides housing, the project includes an industrial park, office buildings, commercial estates and a sports arena.

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Many joint venture manufacturers have already moved into these buildings.

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Japan, Singapore and Taiwan are major investors here.

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China has embarked on an ambitious but urgently needed program with bank support to save its cities from the environment problems associated with rapid economic growth.

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The way in which China responds to the tremendous challenges it faces will significantly affect the well-being and long term prosperity of its people.

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This will also provide an important example to other developing countries in Asia and elsewhere, while sustaining China's economic growth and development.

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The.