Watchdog weak over polluting firms

Two pharmaceutical companies in the suburb of Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, have been polluting the water and air for a decade and the local environment watchdog can do little about it, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency.

Villagers living close to Wangyuan industrial park, where the two companies are located, said the strong odor from emissions would wake them up at night.

"We dare not open the windows because the smell is too strong. We cannot go outdoors for more than a short while, either, because the smell makes us dizzy," an unnamed villager was quoted saying.

Villagers have filed complaints about the smell during the past 10 years, but were always given the same reply; the concerned government department will strengthen supervision and urge the companies to invest in sewage treatment.

The report quoted the local environmental watchdog as saying they could do little about it.

The local environmental protection bureau issued 12 warnings to the companies last year, fining them 220,000 yuan ($35,000).

But the amount is a fraction of the cost of treating sewage.

Wang Mingyi, head of the environmental protection bureau in Yinchuan, said that one of the companies emits 6,000 tons of sewage each day, while the other emits 3,000 tons of sewage each day. As it costs 3 yuan to treat 1 ton of sewage, the two companies would have to pay millions of yuan for just treating the sewage alone.

The report hinted that the high cost of treating sewage may also be the reason behind the fact that, though the companies claimed they invested hundreds of millions of yuan in installing the anti-pollution facilities in recent years, villagers still find no improvement in the environment.

The industrial park is planned with a sewage treatment facility, but the facility has not been put into operation since its completion.

Liu Hu, deputy head of Yongning county government, admitted that it was a lapse by the local government to plan the industrial park beside a village.

He denied any possibility of relocating the companies due to the high costs.

The county government has vowed to put one of the sewage treatment works into operation by the end of the year and deal with the water pollution.