Network enhances pollution control

China has established the world's largest, most comprehensive and technologically advanced environmental monitoring network, according to Dong Baotong, vice-minister of ecology and environment.

The number of monitoring stations across the country directly overseen by the ministry has reached more than 33,000. About two-thirds of the stations focus on soil monitoring, 1,734 monitor air quality and 3,646 oversee groundwater, the official said at a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on Wednesday.

"The system has covered all cities at and above prefecture level, as well as key river basins and seas under China's jurisdiction," he noted.

Beyond traditional focus areas such as water, air and soil, the monitoring network has expanded to include ecological quality, biodiversity, greenhouse gases and new pollutants, he said, adding that this broad scope ensures nearly complete coverage of all essential environmental factors.

Previously, the monitoring system mostly involved manually operated facilities.

"Now, however, automatic monitoring has become the primary method, with drones, mobile vehicles and laser radar being standard fixtures at monitoring stations across the country," Dong said.

He also said the ministry is now taking advantage of seven satellites that provide support for its monitoring work.

Dong vowed the ministry would make consistent efforts to further digitalize and intelligently transform the environmental monitoring system, as it strives to make the system more space-air-ground-sea integrated.

One of the ministry's key priorities is to improve data collection from various sources and enhance data analysis, in order to make the monitoring of data better serve the nation's pollution control efforts, he said.

Dong stressed that the ministry will intensify efforts to crack down on the falsification of monitoring data, with a particular focus on addressing violations involving third-party service providers.

During the news conference, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu also noted the significant achievements that China has made in promoting green transformation.

Outdated facilities that were capable of producing over 1 billion metric tons of coal, 300 million tons of steel and 400 million tons of cement have been phased out. As a result, the country has seen its industrial structure increasingly optimized, the minister said.

He added that over 95 percent of coal-fired power generation facilities in the country and more than 45 percent of crude steel production plants have undergone ultralow emission transformation, meaning that China has established the world's largest clean electricity and clean steel production systems.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn