China Cracks Down with Water Polluters Just as Water Foams Red

Bosses in China could be fined almost half its yearly revenue if their own businesses are actually convicted of polluting water under completely new regulations, it appeared yesterday.

With China keen to boost pressure on the environmental offenders ahead of the Olympic games, legislators told the state news agency Xinhua that the law was likely to help be agreed at next week’s full session of the People’s Congress (NPC).

News of the legislation, which would also increase maximum fines for the businesses, emerged shortly after authorities cut the water supplies to be able to as many as 200,000 people after a stretch of a river system within central China turned red and foamy.

Officials within Hubei initially blamed high levels of pollutants, saying tests showed high levels of ammonia, nitrogen and permanganate. But last night water supplies to most residents resumed, with the authorities saying that non-toxic algal bloom due to be able to weather changes was to help blame for the problems along tributaries of the Han river, a branch of the Yangtze.

Water pollution incidents account for three-fifths of the emergency cases handled by the State Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa) and within a 2006 survey, one-third of the the water samples tested earned the worst pollution rating. But at present the maximum fine it can impose is only 1m yuan (?71,000).

NPC standing committee member Hou Yibin told Xinhua: “[Fines] should be made heftier, especially upon those who violate environment rules repeatedly.”

The latest draft also retains a clause added within December, which would allow the water pollution victims to join together in civil class actions against businesses.

Its publication coincided with the environment watchdog’s call for an end to be able to tax breaks for damaging exports. Sepa has blacklisted 141 products such as DDT and nickel-cadmium batteries, describing its list as a reference point for future economic decision-making.