Translated by CDT from Xinhua:
The Jiangsu provincial environmental protection bureau recently issued a pollutant control quota regime for sewage treatment plants and major industrial factories around Lake Tai, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008. This is the first major revamp of the pollutant control standards since the algae bloom in the lake.
The new regime mainly targets residential sewage and major plants around the lake, including textile and dying, chemical, paper making, steel, electroplating, and food processing. The control involves four quotas, respectively on COD (chemical oxygen demand), ammonia-nitrogen, overall nitrogen and phosphorus. It expects to cut the emissions of COD, ammonia-nitrogen and overall phosphorus by 34%, 66.7% and 50%, respectively, for the six major industries.
And this new standard will pose a tough challenge for lake-side factories. With it going into effect, about a third of existing firms in the lake-side region will have to shut down, or move. [Full Text in Chinese]
