The Shanghai government has signed letters of guarantee with its districts and county to impose tough new pollution limits that exceed national standards.

 

Shanghai tries to reduce effluents detected by the chemical oxygen demand test by 15 percent and sulfur dioxide discharges by 26 percent by 2010.

 

China has demanded a 10 percent cut in both pollutants during the same period.

 

The city intends to limit its sulfur dioxide emissions to less than 380,000 tons a year and keep effluents detected by the chemical oxygen demand test to under 259,000 tons a year by 2010.

 

Last year, the city discharged 512,800 tons of sulfur dioxide and 304,400 tons of chemical oxygen demand effluent. Statistics from the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau showed that 88 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution comes from domestic sewage while the electrical industry discharged 60 percent of effluent detected by the chemical oxygen demand test.

 

The city plans to invest 4 billion yuan (US$502 million) to upgrade desulfurization equipment on coal-fired electricity generators with a capacity of more than 9.57 million kilowatts. Officials said this would cut sulfur dioxide discharges by 190,000 tons a year.

 

Also, over the next four years, dozens of sewage treatment plants will be built, raising the city's sewage treatment rate from the current 70 to 80 percent by 2010.

 

(Shanghai Daily August 30, 2006)