TAIPEI－The Chinese 2007 Sea Environmental Quality Report, released by China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA), revealed that about 78 per cent of the 18 regions under ecological monitoring remain ecologically unhealthy.
On Feb 11, the Xinhua News Agency reported that based on the SOA Report, pollution is worsening in three of the four marginal seas of China except the Yellow Sea. They found 28,000 square miles of coastal areas with offshore water quality below standard—a decrease of 2,500 square miles from the 2006 figure.
According to the report, most of China’s coastal waters are clean, and the distant seas have higher water qualities.
In the coastal regions near China’s growing industry, the main sea water pollutants were found to be inorganic nitrogen, active phosphate, and petroleum byproducts. In 2007, 87.6 per cent of the 573 monitored sewage outlets yielded an excess of chemicals. The rate of excessive pollutant discharge is the highest in the Bohai Sea area, reaching 91 per cent.
The 35.9 billion tons of waste water discharged into the seas contained 12.2 million tons of pollutants.
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