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REPLY OF THE STATE COUNCIL TO THE PROGRAMME FOR PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF WATER POLLUTION AND THE NINTH-FIVE-YEAR PLAN OF THE HUAIHE RIVER VALLEY

    The Application for Approval of the Programme for Prevention and Control
of Water Pollution and the Ninth-Five-Year Plan of the Huaihe River Valley
jointly submitted by the State Administration for Environmental Protection,
the State Planning Commission and the Ministry of Water Resources has been
received and is hereby replied to as following:

    1. The Programme for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution and the
Ninth-Five-Year-Plan of the Huaihe River Valley (hereinafter abbreviated to
the Programme and the Plan) has been approved in principle. You are instructed
to include them as priorities in Ninth-Five-Year Plans, conscientiously
organize their implementation and gradually make them perfect during the
course of practice.

    2. The Programme and the Plan provides an important basis for water
resource protection and water pollution prevention and control in the Huaihe
River Valley. Economic construction activities within the valley shall conform
with prescriptions of the Programme and the Plan. The people's governments of
the four provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong (hereinafter referred
to as the four provinces for short) and the relevant departments shall
according to stipulations of the Programme and the Plan formulate at the
soonest possible time local programmes and their implementation plans for
prevention and control of water pollution in the areas of Huaihe River valley
under their respective provincial or departmental jurisdiction. They shall
lose no time in making preparations, lay stress on key projects and through
the procedures governing examination and approval of infrastructure
construction and technology renovation projects, list those projects, in
groups and by stages, in regional, departmental or national ninth-five-year
plans for national economy and social development or their annual plan for
their execution so that the year 1997 could see the pollutants discharge from
industrial pollution sources within the whole valley being restricted to
standards and the year 2000 could see the realization of the goal of making
Huaihe River cleared.

    3. The objectives of control over maximum pollutants discharge in the
Huaihe River valley laid down in the Programme and Plan has been agreed to. In
1997, the permitted maximum discharge of chemical oxygen demands (hereinafter
abbreviated to COC) in the whole valley shall be 890,200 tons, of which
247,200 tons is allocated for Henan, 207,700 tons for Anhui, 171,500 tons for
Jiangsu and 263,800 tons for Shandong. In the year 2000, the permitted maximum
discharge of COD in the whole valley shall be 368,000 tons, of which 127,400
tons is permitted in Henan, 77,000 tons in Anhui, 98,900 tons in Jiangsu, and
64,700 tons in Shandong.

    4. The division of the Huaihe River Valley into seven control zones with
34 control districts, which are further divided into 100 sub-districts, as
laid down in the Programme and the Plan, is accepted.

    Stipulations of the Programme and the Plan are agreed to regarding water
quality requirements in terms of 82 water quality control sections; sewage
discharge restraints on different trades prescribed by state-set standards on
discharge of water-polluting wastes; permitted maximum discharge of COD from
major cities and towns situated above control sections; permitted maximum
discharge of COD from major discharging channels, minimum requirements for
reduction of sewage discharge in a stage by stage manner by different
provinces, cities and counties, and targets for superseding backward
industrial equipment.

    Water quality of Huaihe River Valley within the jurisdiction of the four
provinces shall respectively meet water quality standards for provincial
boundaries.

    5. The Programme and the Plan recommends about 303 optional projects for
prevention and control of water pollution, which asks for totally RMB 16.6
billion yuan. Funds shall be raised by various channels and from different
sources following the principle that whoever discharges pollutants shall be
held responsible for its control. Unremitting efforts shall be made to raise
the efficiency of use of funds for prevention and control of pollution. The
four provincial people's governments shall organize project undertaking units
to go through the procedures of application, assessment, examination for
approval and loan arrangements so that investments plan could be carried out
by stages. For those water pollution prevention and control projects that have
been covered by annual plans, the four provincial people's governments, the
relevant departments of the state Council and concerned enterprises shall
ensure for the injection of funds according to schedules. The State Planning
Commission, the State Commission for Economy and Trade and other relevant
departments shall strengthen instruction and urging in this regard.

    6. The four provincial people's governments shall, according to
prescriptions of the Programme and the Plan, closely attend to the formulation
of provincial plans on installation, by stages, of facilities for disposal of
polluted water and drainage pipes and networks in major cities and towns
situated in the Huaihe River Valley, and shall closely attend to the work of
construction.

    To establish a construction and operation mechanism for city and township
sewage disposal facilities, trial levy of fees for sewage disposal in cities
and towns may be conducted. The fees so collected shall be specially used for
the construction and operation of sewage disposal facilities in Huaihe River
Valley, and may not be embezzled for other uses. The pilot cities selected for
such trial shall be determined by the Construction Ministry, the State
Administration for Environmental Protection, jointly with the State Planning
Commission and the Financial Ministry. Procedures governing levy of the fees
shall be formulated by the Financial Ministry in cooperation with the State
Planning commission and the State Administration for Environmental Protection,
who shall closely attend to the matter and promulgate such procedures before
September 30, 1996 for implementation by the four provinces.

    7. People's governments at different levels of the four provinces shall
speed up transformation of industrial structure, urge clean production and
stringently restrain occurrence of new pollution sources. They shall,
according to the Interim Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Water
Pollution in the Huaihe River Valley (hereinafter referred to as the Interim
Regulations for short) and the Programme and the Plan, adopt measures such as
"close down, suspend, ban, transform or convert" and restriction of production
or discharge and shall set a deadline for industrial enterprises (and
countryside and township enterprises also) to bring pollution sources under
control.

    Relevant departments of the State Council shall lose no time in
determining and publicizing a list of lines and products banned or rigorously
restricted in Huaihe River Valley, and shall take the initiative in
cooperating with the four provinces to develop, apply and expand pragmatic
technologies for water pollution prevention and control.

    8. The people's governments of the four provinces shall strengthen
leadership over the work of water pollution prevention and control.
Administrative departments in charge of environmental protection shall
strengthen supervision over enforcement of environmental laws and regulations,
strictly comply with the environmental impact assessment system and the
"three-stage simultaneous" requirement. The Leading Group for Protecting Water
Resources within the Huaihe River Valley shall make prompt coordination, solve
key problems concerning the protection of water resources and prevention and
control of water pollution in the Huaihe River Valley, facilitate research and
construction of a monitoring system for prevention and control of water
pollution, index system for monitoring control of pollution, and shall
strengthen supervision and inspection.

    The people's governments of the four provinces and the relevant
departments under the State Council shall closely cooperate and unite with
each other in control of pollution, comply with stipulations of the Interim
Regulations and the Programme and the Plan, and jointly do a find job in the
prevention and control of water pollution in the Huaihe River Valley.