China Environmental Law

As I’ve noted previously, the new Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act amendments have not significantly changed the way water pollution is addressed and controlled in China. Rather, they have taken the provisions of the 1996 amendments and certain significant regulatory enactments and merged them into a more cohesive structure. The first three chapters of the amendments basically cover how water pollution standards and prevention plans are developed and how water pollution control activities are to administered at a national and sub-national level.

From a potential dischargers prospective, the most significant provision in these chapters is Article 9 which provides:

Any water pollutant discharge shall not exceed the standards for water pollutant discharge and the total control target for major water pollutant discharge as specified by the State or local governments.

There are two standards referenced here:

1. standards for water pollutant discharge, and
2. the total control target for major water pollutant discharge.

 Let’s take them one at a time. Today will start to talk about:

Standards for water pollutant discharge

This can be slightly confusing, but just bear with me (I can’t say it will be worth it in the end, but I hope it will at least make some sense).  Article 11 provides that the “environmental protection administration under the State Council” (SEPA), shall develop “national standards for water quality environment.”  Sub-national authorities are permitted to establish their own local standards for pollutants not specified in the national standards (curiously, the sub-national authorities are not granted explicit authority, as they are in many other environmental contexts, to enact local standards more stringent than those established at the national level).  SEPA has already developed several water quality standards, the most widely applicable of which is the Surface Water Quality Standard(GB3838-2002). This standard divides surface waters into five functional categories based on planning goals and current use.  The categories range from protected headwater areas to agricultural and landscape waters. The standards set limits for total concentrations of certain pollutants in the various surface water categories.  The pollutants covered are the standard range of water pollutants: COD, Ammonia (NH₃N), temperature, pH, BOD₅, total phosphorus, fecal coliform, trace metals, etc.

Thus, suppose we have a surface water body that is designated as a Class III water (in the US these would be termed “fishable/swimmable” waters, in other words, the water quality should be sufficient to produce edible fish and safe swimming conditions). In China, this water body should have a COD concentration of 20mg/L or less, an Ammonia (NH3N) concentration of 1mg/L or less, and so on.

There are other water quality standards in China, including the Groundwater Quality Standard (GB/T14848-1993)(also divided into five categories), Seawater Quality Standard (GB3097-1997)(divided into four categories), Fishery Water Quality Standard (GB11607-1989), and Irrigation Water Quality Standard (GB5084-1992)(divided into three categories based on crop type), and they set similar concentration limits for their respective waters.

OK, so we have these water quality standards, which are for the most part aspirational in China, what do we do with them? How do we turn them into enforceable discharge standards? I can’t give away this vast knowledge all in one day. To be continued. . . .