Report: One fifth of China's soil contaminated

[JayAtl]

Almost a fifth of China's soil is contaminated, an official study released by the government has shown.

Conducted between 2005-2013, it found that 16.1% of China's soil and 19.4% of its arable land showed contamination.

The report, by the Environmental Protection Ministry, named cadmium, nickel and arsenic as top pollutants.

There is growing concern, both from the government and the public, that China's rapid industrialisation is causing irreparable damage to its environment.

The study took samples across an area of 6.3 million square kilometres, two-thirds of China's land area.

"The survey showed that it is hard to be optimistic about the state of soil nationwide," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

"Due to long periods of extensive industrial development and high pollutant emissions, some regions have suffered deteriorating land quality and serious soil pollution."

Because of the "grim situation", the state would implement measures including a "soil pollution plan" and better legislation.

Levels of pollution ranged from slight to severe.

About 82.8% of the polluted land was contaminated by inorganic materials, with levels noticeably higher than the previous survey between 1986 and 1990, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying.

"Pollution is severe in three major industrial zones, the Yangtze River Delta in east China, the Pearl River Delta in south China and the northeast corner that used to be a heavy industrial hub," the agency said.

The report had previously been classified as a state secret because of its sensitivity.

There is growing fear in China over the effect that modernisation has had on the country's air, water and soil.

The central government has promised to make tackling the issue a top priority - but vested interests and lax enforcement of regulations at local level make this challenging.

The public, meanwhile, have become increasingly vocal - both on the issue of smog and, in several cases, by taking to the streets to protest against the proposed construction of chemical plants in their cities

BBC News - Report: One fifth of China's soil contaminated

 

[JayAtl]

Not as much as the Indian minds.

tell us, were you born a moron or is it a hereditary trait?

 

[armchairPrivate]

tell us, were you born a moron or is it a hereditary trait?

Get me a slurpee Patel, no cow urine flavour.

 

[JayAtl]

Get me a slurpee Patel, no cow urine flavour.

right after you finish eating your dog for lunch ....dum chong lee ¦)

 

[gambit]

tell us, were you born a moron or is it a hereditary trait?

Be nice. He was dropped, then stepped on.

 

[liall]

Get me a slurpee Patel, no cow urine flavour.

Are you a retard? rofl

 

[Meengla]

Can't stop laughing out loud at these comments above..

 

[haidian]

Based on some study or research ,the world should 've come to an end decades ago. lol.. Wolf crying is not a new trick in the book.

 

[tranquilium]

Based on some study or research ,the world should 've come to an end decades ago. lol.. Wolf crying is not a new trick in the book.

Well, the key thing to remember is that those types of assumptions work off the idea that all situations will continue to get worse. As a result, they will come up with rather ridicules results. In reality, human society generally gets better as time goes on, because our understanding of the world and organization of our society gets better as time goes on.

BBC's article links to Ministry of Environmental Protection
环境保护部和国土资源部发布全国土壤污染状况调查公报

The investigation started in April 2005 and concluded in December 2013, the report is generated four month later on April 17th, 2014.

It looks like out of the 16.1% of contaminate land, the 11.2% is minor, 2.3% is low level contamination, 1.5% is medium level contamination and 1.1% shows serious contamination.

The main source of contamination is pointed to be inorganic contaminant accounting for 82.8% of all contamination. The primary one are pointed to be Cadmium and Nickel, accounting for 7.0% and 4.8% respectively. Other contaminants include Mercury (1.6%), Arsenic (2.7%), Copper (2.1%), Lead (1.5%), Chromium (1.1%), Zinc (0.9%). The total percent exceed 16.1% because the same land can have multiple contaminants.

In term of geographic distribution, southern land has worse contaminant than northern lands, mainly owing to larger population and more industry. The three major area for contaminants are Changjiang Delta, Zhujiang Delta and Northeast old industry bases.

Treatment decisions:
1. Controlling the sources and developing technology for treatment
2. Establish regulations and laws for soil protection (first sets of regulations and laws are already implemented)
3. Continued investigation of soil conditions throughout the country
4. Establish soil recovery project
5. Establish strict environmental monitor, including, but not limited to: industrial waste water, gas and debris treatment, strict regulation in agricultural production (aimed at pesticides) and strict recover, storage and recycling of contaminants.

So, a couple of interesting things to note:

The source of contamination is identified to be mainly industrial production and by extension, water pollution. Automobile is not identified as a source of soil contamination and neither is sulfur (which is the indicator for automobile related pollution), thus the land contaminant issue only occurs near heavy industry base. So Beijing has almost no soil contaminant since it is not an industrial city and its water quality is top notch.

It is not really surprising that Northeast Industrial bases and the two deltas are the biggest offender. These are pretty the very first industrial bases in China. They run some of the oldest factories and lots of heavy industry.

A comparison between annual report of generated waste water in China from 2007 and 2012:
综 述
综 述
Basically, industrial waste water quantity in China is decreasing, as well as SO2 admission, indicating the environmental treatment in the past years is working. Though China still faces quite a bit environmental pressure, for example, the city waste water amount has increased since 2007 due to urban expansion and higher urban population. Total Industrial solid waste amount has gone up due to expansion of overall industrial capacity. However, this is offset by the improvement in solid waste recycle efficiency.

To sum it up, fighting pollution is a long term task and China still has a long way to go, but the past few years has shown good result and demonstrated that as long as Chinese government keeps investing into environmental protection like its has been doing, environmental condition in China will continue to improve.

 

[JSCh]

The Chinese ministry of Environmental Protection published a report that say one fifth of China soil is contaminated!!!!

How dare they do that!!!

Shouldn't the minister of environmental protection be arrested and shot???!!!!

Isn't China a communist country?

 

[sweetgrape]

Why a indian china hater believe a data from China government? Very surprised!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I think China should feel lucky leaded gas was discontinued before the auto market skyrocketed.

 

[Manvantaratruti]

A good learning for India and rest of the world.

Lack of democracy has its drawbacks too, like absence of checks and balance, and sufficient response to citizens angst.

 

[huskie]

A good learning for India and rest of the world.

Lack of democracy has its drawbacks too, like absence of checks and balance, and sufficient response to citizens angst.

sadly democracy may have very little to do with this. democratic nations such as UK and US had their own bad polluted days, and even now democratic India is heavily polluting itself (but only with a small fraction of the productivity).

maybe the real lesson is to try to pull yourself together and get your work done. don't follow China if you hate autocracy. follow other successful democratic countries.

 

[tranquilium]

sadly democracy may have very little to do with this. democratic nations such as UK and US had their own bad polluted days, and even now democratic India is heavily polluting itself (but only with a small fraction of the productivity).

maybe the real lesson is to try to pull yourself together and get your work done. don't follow China if you hate autocracy. follow other successful democratic countries.

Well, go back to my post at #10. Treatment IS being done in China. The industrial waste water, waste recycling and many other indicators are improving. The worst period of water pollution in China is actually in 90s where regulations and laws are not yet established. Like I said, fighting pollution is a long term task and as long as you are making positive progress, you will get there eventually.