Water Pollution Control

 

Take Away Message: water pollution control is of critical importance to the insurance of a sustainable water supply. Under the Chinese government structure it is extremely plausible to implement an incentive structure to reduce industrial pollution, it is also possible to audit industry and monitor pollution output to insure their commitment to a pollution management plan. We suggest that a government structure be created to oversee compliance with a new pollution management plan; the plan will charge industries directly per amount of pollution produced to create direct incentive for pollution effluent reduction . We also suggest that a scientist derived government organization be created for the treatment and rehabilitation of the current water supply via bio remediation methods. 

 

 

Setting the Stage: 

 

There are two different focus points for addressing water pollution in Beijing. First the current industrial, domestic, and agricultural pollution regulations must be adapted to further reduce pollution. Second, severely polluted water must be rehabilitated to increase the total water supply. Each focus point results in the need for a different management plan and strategy in tackling water pollution. We will address current water pollution by suggesting a new policy framework for industrial and agricultural pollution oversight; in doing so we will make suggestions on how pollution discharge should be assessed. Then we will offer suggestions on how waste water should be treated and how current water pollution can be treated and reduced. 

 

Water Pollution Management Plan

 

Policy Strategy 1:  

 

A new method of water pollution control will improve Beijing's water supply by creating a management strategy for cleaning up the current water supply and managing pollution into the future. To improve the overall water quality in Beijing we suggest a revamp of the incentive structure for pollutant discharge currently in place for industry and large consumers of water in Beijing. Water pollution control will give more clean water to the citizens of Beijing, improve the quality of water in Beijing's watershed, and ensure a stable and clean water supply for those who need it in the future.

 

The current method of industrial pollution management in China charges industry for releasing effluent beyond the established pollution standards. A 2001 study published in the Journal of Applied Economics did a statistical analysis of changing this pollution abatement structure to a direct charge by effluent structure where industries are charged for all pollution (air and water) by tons produced. The study did a cost analysis of this structure for the entire country of China and showed that this abatement structure would save money and drastically increase pollution reduction by industry. The study compared charges to their resulting abatement percentages and found that an 80% reduction could be reached through the implementation of a $1.00 (U.S.) / Ton of effluent charge...

 

"Emissions charges as low as US$1.00/ton would be sufficient to induce 80%

abatement of suspended solids for cost-minimizing factories. Charges of US$3,

US$15 and US$30 per ton would be sufficient to induce 90% abatement of TSS,

COD and BOD. (3) The current regulatory system provides an economic incentive to

abate by charging a levy on pollution in excess of the standard. However, the results

suggest that changing to a full emissions charge system would greatly reduce overall

abatement costs. (Dasgupta, Huq, Wheeler & Zhang, 2001)¹

 

The study further analyzed the effects of this price change structure in the following table. The table highlights potential charges and their resulting pollution abatement or reduction. The studied considered the application of this new industrial pollution management strategy for the entire country of China. We propose that Beijing should implement this management structure as a city management strategy. This plan of action would be cost effective and its resulting savings can be channeled into the production of waste water treatment facilities that can be used to treat domestic water. Further, this strategy can be implemented with only slight modification of the current policy structure and will create more direct incentive for reducing pollution load. 

 

 

Policy Strategy 2 (an integrative management perspective for pollution emergency management):

 

Pollution emergencies and their threat to water sources need rst to be addressed by improving response mechanisms when incidents occur. First responders should be well trained for handling chemical incidents and equipped with the mandate and resources to contain pollution releases. Twenty-four-hour technical support to the emergency services should be provided. Requirements for reporting, monitoring, and public information disclosure of pollution incidents should be well institutionalized and implemented. Besides, prevention is always better than cure. This requires a shift of attention from response and mitigation to prevention and planning. Risk assessments by industry and by site have to be conducted and regularly updated. To this end, chemical management processes, including inventory, labeling, and monitoring, have to be strengthened. An environmental disaster fund with sufcient revenue to support such activities as information management, training, awareness-raising, and clean-up for environmental incidents should be established. Funds could be raised through an increase in the pollution levy and/or the introduction of environmental taxes on toxic chemicals. In addition, increased fines for pollution accidents to cover the cost of clean-up and compensation should be considered as another source for the fund.

This solution will tackle pollution at a local level through continued identification of pollution sources, managing of these sources, and control of such pollution. Beijing has prioritized the renovation and control of industrial pollution legislation as well as the prevention of the dumping of sewage into available water. We will continue with this trend, focusing on cleaning up the most abundant sources of pollution (industry), but not ignoring the combined pollution developed by citizens. Tackling the overall problem of pollution in Beijing will be accomplished by developing plans targeted to specific pollutants and seeing the cleanup process through. Along with cleaning up these local sources of pollution, enforcing laws dealing with waste water discharge and improving the incentive structure currently in place for pollution (levy and fines) will be warranted. 80 percent of Beijing's water supply is polluted to some extent, so our focus will remain on cleaning up the water available to the citizens. Starting at the local level ensures a high leverage solution in which we will be able to tackle the pollution at their source and hopefully improve the water infrastructure as a whole (one source of pollution at a time). Waste water cleanup will be a prime focus on pollution cleanup because of the large amount of it and the inadequate treatment plants in the municipality. Educational programs for citizens who are simply unaware of the impact they are having on the watershed through their day-to-day activities would be started in an attempt to curb pollution at a local level, one citizen at a time.

 

Current Surface Water Supply Rehabilitation Plan:

 

In order to more successfully manage pollution in Beijing it will be important to establish a framework for the cleaning and management of the current polluted water supply. In conjunction with establishing a method for decreasing future pollution effluent this plan will attempt to mitigate current water pollution damage.

 

Water Pollution in Beijing has occurred as a direct consequence of fast paced development. This pollution has reached incredible levels. According to a newspaper article published in 2006, "The water quality in 50 percent of Beijing's lifeline lakes failed to make even Grade V, the minimum standard for water uses for agricultural or landscaping purposes, according to a report released by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau on Monday."⁴ The conditions have seen little change as we have discussed previously in this report. In 2007 the probe international report estimated that 0.8 billion cubic meters of water for societal use are demanded from the surface water supply. Most of this surface water supply is derived from the Guanting and Miyun reservoirs in Beijing.³ Water quality of Beijing's lakes is extremely important as they have/ are used as an integral part of the available water supply in Beijing. Treating pollution in the lake water supply should be a critical priority in creating more available water in the city.

 

There are several ways to prevent pollution in and treat an existing water supply and we believe that all available routes should be pursued vigorously. Among these treatment methods the most appropriate seems to be bio remediation focusing on a phyto-remediation approach. This would involve the intensive integration of native plant species into the lake system. These native plant species should be selected for their applicability in treatment and uptake of criteria pollutants in all elevated pollutant categories of the water system. 

 

In order to effectively introduce a bio-remediation plan in Beijing it will be necessary to create a scientific team under government sponsorship to select and implement a large scale water rehabilitation project. If the surface water in Beijing can be brought to full consumption potential the annual water supply from surface water could be increased up to 1.67 billion cubic meters per year ³. This increased water availability would create a great reduction of water stress in Beijing. Further, the implementation of intensive phyto-remediation would involve the creation of considerable watershed buffers around the lakes. These buffers would reduce the effects of industrial and runoff pollution overtime; effectively treating part of the pollutant load before it reaches the lakes. 

 

Working in conjunction with a new strategy for pollutant oversight a rehabilitation plan would create a sustainable strategy that would insure the success of the surface water supply for many years to come. 

 

Section Citations:

 

1. Dasgupta, S., Huq, M., Wheeler, D., & Zhang, C. (2001). Water pollution abatement by chinese industry: cost estimates and policy implications. Applied Economics, 2001(33), 547-557. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00036840122068

 

2. Liebenthal, A., & Xie, J. (2009). Addressing china's water scarcity: Recommendations for selected water resource management issues . World Bank Publications.

 

3. "Beijing’s Water Crisis 1949 — 2008." China Heritage Quarterly. Probe International Beijing Group, 2008. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/016/_docs/BeijingWaterCrisis1949-2008.pdf.

 

4. "Beijing Gets Poor Grades for Water Quality -- China.org.cn." China.org.cn. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. <http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/190551.htm>

http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/016/_docs/BeijingWaterCrisis1949-2008.pdf

 

 

Constraints:

 1. Monitoring pollution in Beijing has been relatively unsuccessful in the past as it is hard to maintain direct oversight of industrial pollution.

 

2. Implementing a bio-remediation organization for surface water will involve financing. The creation of new ministries and organizations will be hard to push in the Chinese government but seems to be the most effective method for reaching a sustainable management plan.

 

3. China relies on Beijing for the insurance of industrial and economical success. Beijing has a huge contribution to the overall GDP of China. The Beijing contribution to the GDP of the country makes it a conflict of interest to implement an intensive and obtrusive management plan for industries. The difficulty is compounded if this perspective is applied to the large number of corporations operating in Beijing in the interest of cheap labor and low oversight.