Groundwater pollution bubbles up as hot topic

Along with the haze and smoggy weather, groundwater pollution has made the environment a hot topic again. On a national scale, the situation for pollution is far from optimistic and the quality of groundwater is increasingly deteriorating, says an article in People’s Daily. Excerpts:

Technically speaking, activities such us piling up solid waste, exploration and exploitation by the petrochemical industry and even surface water could all lead to groundwater pollution, but companies directly pumping polluted water into the ground is another important reason, even though it is clearly prohibited in the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution.

It is obviously more covert to discharge polluted water underground than on the surface. Moreover, a fine of 50,000 ($8,000) to 500,000 yuan seems rather small for enterprises once their illegal acts are discovered. Besides, lax enforcement by environmental authorities has further lowered costs of unlawful activities, leaving public tip-offs in vain.

In fact, most developed countries have also experienced serious water contamination. However, after legislating laws related to water pollution in the 1960s and 1970s, government departments not only started strict law enforcement, but also developed good interactions with the public through information disclosure, public participation and environmental public litigation, which helped improve water pollution.

The Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution has been in force for 29 years, but pollution of surface water and groundwater is still quite severe. It is therefore a priority to guarantee that the rule of law really functions so we can make our water clean again. The government should legislate and modify relevant legal standards and strictly enforce the law while companies should also abide by the law and assume their social responsibilities. The public should have the right to participate in environmental policymaking and watch for illegal acts.

Translated by Xiao Lixin