荒诞者共和

Li noted that uncurbed Taihu pollution has put the economic growth mode of Jiangsu into question and counterbalances the economic achievements of thriving Wuxi and neighboring cities of Suzhou and Changzhou. “If people have no access to clean water for drinking, they will not nod to our efforts in building a society that is better off overall, no matter how much the economy is flourishing,” Li said. He noted that curbing the lake’s pollution is an “urgent” priority and the “debt we must pay to nature,” even if it results in a 15 percent downturn in the province’s GDP.

This verbal pledge, yet to be honored by local action, is encouraging in contrast to the common craze among local governments in China to achieve ever-increasing GDP growth. Although the central leadership has warned local officials in recent years not to seek economic growth at the cost of the environment, the response to this plea has barely been visible.

The Taihu Lake incident in Jiangsu reflects the dilemma of environmental deterioration vis-à-vis rapid economic growth in China as a whole. Three decades of continuous industrial development has not only created an economic miracle, but also led to environmental havoc as a result of high energy consumption and unchecked pollution. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people potentially lack clean and safe drinking water because 70 percent of the country’s rivers and lakes are contaminated (28 percent of which suffer from serious pollution and are not fit for irrigation or even industrial use) and 90 percent of the country’s groundwater is undrinkable, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

Here, Jiangsu sets an infamous record as well. It contributes 6 percent of China’s total industrial pollution and ranks first in the country in the pollution load per square kilometer.

According to SEPA deputy director Pan Yue, China now may now face more-intensive water pollution incidents because of the widespread neglect of environmental protection over the past few decades. The country has reported a water pollution incident every two to three days on average since late 2005, when northeastern China’s Songhua River was severely contaminated following a chemical plant explosion.

More dangerous than these severe contamination incidents, however, is the typically invisible chronic pollution that does not attract official attention until it is too late, as was the case with Taihu Lake. Putrid blue-green algae that feeds on the ammonia and nitrogen run-off from factories, farms, and homes had been simmering in the lake for years, but the stench did not reach official noses until it contaminated drinking water sources and threw people into a panic. Local residents likely never imagined that they, having been blessed to live near a lake traditionally famed for its clear water and natural beauty, should one day be forced to turn to bottled water for drinking.

As early as a decade ago, China first launched pollution control campaigns to clean Taihu and other contaminated lakes and rivers, at a huge investment cost. But the efforts have so far seen little effect. Various measures, including diverting water from the Yangtze River and generating artificial rainfall, have been taken to remove the stench following the lake’s sudden algal bloom. But these have only been expedient measures to address the emergency at hand.

Restoring the natural balance of Taihu, or any other polluted lake or river in China, requires the resolve of local policymakers to tackle pollution when environmental protection and local economic interests are in conflict. But since industrial and agricultural pollutants, as well as urban home discharges, are major contributors to water contamination, curbing pollution typically means harming the local economy, which most local officials are unwilling to accept.

SEPA’s Pan Yue has noted that as environmental issues attract greater public attention in China, the country will begin to witness a seesawing battle between polluters and environmental protection efforts. However, Pan acknowledges that conservation efforts will remain weak as long as China’s traditional economic growth pattern of high energy consumption and pollution discharges remains unchanged.

Pan argues that the country needs a new mechanism for evaluating official performance that no longer enshrines local GDP growth at the expense of all else, and which stresses environmental protection efforts. As long as the GDP-centered evaluation system is in place, officials will blindly seek economic growth often at the cost of local environment and ecology, ignoring the teachings of the central leadership on the “scientific concept” of development.

Three days without tap water will remain a dreadful memory to Wuxi residents. But in other ways, their suffering may prove worthy as the incident arouses concerns within the central government. The Taihu algae bloom was followed by the exposure of similar pollution incidents in other lakes, including China’s fifth largest freshwater body—Chaohu Lake in Anhui Province—and Dianchi Lake in southwest Yunnan Province, triggering discussions on the country’s potential water crisis.

At a special meeting on controlling pollution in Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao demanded that the environmental management of the three lakes be adopted as a state project. In July, SEPA, the national environmental watchdog, announced that it would restrict the approval of any new industrial projects located in the Yellow, Huaihe, and Haihe river basins and in the Anhui section of the Yangtze, where environmental violations are rampant. The agency will suspend the approval of all projects except those relating to pollution control and China’s national goal to achieve a “circular economy.” Meanwhile, Jiangsu Province has vowed to shut down more than 2,000 small chemical plants around Taihu Lake by 2008.

Certainly, the misfortune affecting Wuxi residents will become more worthwhile if local leader Li Yuanchao’s pledge to save the environment at the cost of the local economy can lead officials elsewhere to follow suit and take action. So far, however, critics are not satisfied with the belated responses of officials in similar cases. They ask: Why do officials show concern over the problem only when a crisis hits? And how long would the Taihu Lake stench have lasted if there hadn’t been such a sudden algae bloom?

Of course, it’s better late than never. But this certainly isn’t true if the responses and actions taken by officials are always late. As Pan Yue has warned, environmental issues have now reached a critical stage in China.

Jiaquan Wang is a senior journalist with Xinhua News Agency in Beijing. This article was coordinated by the Beijing-based Global Environmental Institute. Outside contributions to China Watch reflect the views of the author and are not necessarily the views of the Worldwatch Institute.