Ministry of Environmental Protection Published Consultation Paper on Discharge Standard on Urban Sewage Treatment Plant

The current standard was first issued in 2002. This paper draft is the first amendment to it. The main changes include:

• The application scope of the standard is adjusted.
• Discharge limits of certain water pollutants are proposed.
• The requirements on sludge stabilization and harmlessization are updated.

Proposals for China's 13th Five-Year Plan

For environment:

• Promoting conservation priorities and natural restoration
• Implementing a more exacting environmental protection system

The State Council released The Action Plan on Water Pollution Prevention and Treatment

Key indicators:

By 2020, overall ratio of seven major rivers quality, including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Pearl River, the Songhua River, the Huaihe River, the Haihe River and the Liao River reaching good level (or better than Class III) should be more than 70%; severely polluted water level in urban districts should be controlled under 10%. The proportion of the overall drinking water quality in prefecture-level cities reaching or better than Class III should account for more than 93%. Meanwhile, the proportion of severely polluted groundwater level in the whole country should be controlled at approximately 15%. The water quality of the offshore marine areas that reaches first or second class should stand at approximately 70%. The water quality being worse than Class V without basic functions in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area should be improved by approximately 15 percentage points, while that in Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta should be overall improved by 2020.

By 2030, overall ratio of seven key river basin water quality reaching good level should be more than 75%; severely polluted water in urban districts should be largely improved; and the overall proportion of the centralized drinking water being or better than Class III in cities should reach approximately 95%.

The Notice allows municipal residential wastewater treatment fee to increase above RMB0.95/tonnes while non-residential wastewater treatment fee to increase above RMB1.40/tonnes by the end of 2016. Meanwhile, the minimum fees would rise to RMB0.85/tonnes and RMB1.2/tonnes for county/township residents and non-residents respectively.

Municipalities, counties and key townships which currently haven’t charged any wastewater treatment fees are required to complete the construction and commence the operation of wastewater treatment facilities in three years' time and start collecting treatment fees by the end of 2015.

Put emphasis on more effective collection of sewage treatment fees & Encourage and attract private sectors to invest water projects by allowing them to buy special licenses or take stakes in water projects.

Organised by The China Environment Chamber of Commerce (CECC), Chinese Listed Environmental Companies Summit 2014 was successfully held in Beijing from December 27 to 28 2014. The theme of this year summit is “New Normal of China's Environmental industry: innovation on both model and technology”. Mr. Wen Yibo, Head of CECC and also the Chairman of Sound Group, presided over the opening ceremony as well as being the guest speaker for topic discussion.

In case of discrepancy between the Chinese version and its English translation , the Chinese version shall prevail.