As the economy has developed, the environmental protection of the province has also made progress. In 1998, the Ninth People's Congress of Zhejiang Province set up the Environmental Protection Committee of Agriculture and Resources. The function of environmental protection organizations at every level of government has been strengthened. From 1994 to 1998, a total of over 3,900 pollution control projects were completed, at a cost of 1.55 billion yuan. At present, the atmospheric environmental quality in the province has reached the second level of the stste standards. The water quality of eight main river systems is good, especially in the lakes. In addition, urban noise pollution is effectively controlled. Moreover, Zhejiang has five stste-level nature preserves and six province-level ones, covering an area of over 96,000 ha.

In the process of environmental protection, the province continues urban and rural environmental afforestation; meanwhile, it places emphasis on the establishment of systems engineering of environmental protection. At the moment, the coverage of forests in the province is 54.6 percent, leading the country. Smoke and dust control zones totaling over 1,000 sq km have been built. Over 140 protected areas for standard and potable water source have been established. 104ecological villages(towns)have been built, four of which were cited by the Environment Program Office of the United Nation as part of the Five Hundred Excellent Locations on the Globe. The province's ten directly administered cities have banned vehicle horns in the urban area. Hangzhou, Ninbo and Wenzhou have banned the use of leaded gasoline in motor-driven vehicles within the urban areas. The province has arranged multi-type Wild Life Protection Week. The five cities of Hangzhou, Ninbo, Wenzhou, Shaoxing and Taizhou have implemented a billboard system to publicize the city atmospheric environmental quality each week. Nanji Islets, which lie in south Zhejiang, have become a net member of the global biosphere sponsored by the UNESCO, and is China's first maritime unit listed into the global biosphere network.

Since the province began an environmental protection policy, the prevention and control of water pollution has been emphasized. In 1998, it made breakthroughs in the sewage treatment projects in the drainage basin of Taihu Lake, which was the emphasis of pollution treatment in northern Zhejiang. There among 257heavily-polluting enterprises and institutions, 204 have reached the standard of sewage drainage; 8 have reached the construction of sewage treatment facilities; the operations of 12 have been suspended and rectified, and 33 have been closed down. Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou have banned the sales of phosphorated detergent. In Shaoxing City, China's first integrated urban-rural pollution reduction network has been set up . That part of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and other inland rivers in Hangzhou have started pollution reduction. By the end of 1998, there had been a reduction of 11 percent over 1992 for annual industrial sewage drainage, and the province's treatmetn rate of polluted water had reached 81 percent.


The formation of the Sanitary Workers' Day in 1997 raised Zhejiang's environmental hygiene work to a new level. At present, Hangzhou and its satellite city-Xiaoshan, have been cited by the state as "Advanced Sanitary Cities". In addition, the two municipalities of Shaoxing and Huzhou, and the three county-level cities of Linhai, Fuyang and Yuyao have won the name of "National Sanitary Cities". And 24 other cities and counties have treatment systems which render garbage harmlessly.

Zhejiang Provincial Association for cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries
Address:1 Shengfu Road, Hangzhou City P.R.China
Tel:(0571)7052500 7057125
Fax:(0571)7054686
Zip code:310025

---

Return to Home
Return to www.ChinaPages.Com
Copyright 1998, ChinaPages©
Designed by Webworm
Supported by Dife-Hope