China Environmental Law

If you stayed awake during our previous discussion of China’s water pollution discharge permit regulations you remember that for the most part these permits contain only concentration-based limits. In practice, only one “total quantity control limit” has been imposed on a country-wide basis: a mass loading limit on COD (in some specific watersheds additional “total quantity control limits” have been imposed, i.e., for Ammonia (NH₃-N) in the Huai River basin).

It appears, however, that mass load limits regulations are under consideration at the State Council level.  According to China Daily

Pollution emission permits are being introduced to control the total amount of pollutants discharged. Currently, only the concentration of a pollutant is monitored.

“Currently, we only monitor the toxic level of pollutants and not the quantity discharged, putting a strain on natural purification,” Xia [Guang, director of MEP's policy research center] said.

The regulations are still in planning stage and will reportedly be issued for public comment.

The issuance of pollution emission permits will be delayed, as more time is needed to gauge public opinion, an official with the Ministry of Environmental Protection said yesterday.

“There is no timetable for issuance of the permits,” the official, who refused to be named, told China Daily. He denied media reports the permits would be issued at the end of the year.

The ministry official, however, said: “We definitely need more time to make public the legislative procedures.”

The ministry expects opposition to the new permits from certain quarters

The permits will meet opposition from industries and local governments, Xia said.

“Strict requirements in emission reduction will add to the costs of industries, such as the installation of waste treatment facilities,” he said.

Such opposition, however, will apparently not deter the government from its plan. Ministry official Xia is warning that

“Polluters should make preparations for treatment facilities. The permits are an indication of the country’s resolve to introduce increasingly strict standards to protect the environment.”

The most significant hurdle these new regulations will have to clear, if their application is to be most effective is the development of what are called Total Maximum Daily Loads in the US, which calculate the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount (in the form of mass loading based discharge limits) to the pollutant’s various sources.

As the China Daily article notes

Another problem will be the calculation of how much pollution an area can receive, and how to optimize the allocation of emission credits to individual plants, he said.

One advantage of mass load based limits is that they provide a regulatory framework for pollution trading schemes

A pilot program of issuing pollution emission permits has been carried in the [Tai] lake area [where mass load limits are being imposed], Xia said.

The permits allow emission trading, and this has proved be an effective measure to reduce pollution, he said.

A lot of work still needs to be done to get these regulations up and running, but it’s encouraging that they are at least in the serious planning stage.