How to Amend the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law? Let's Hear What the Minister Says

According to the legislative work arrangements of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Environmental Protection drafted the "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft for Comment)", solicited public opinions, and submitted it to the State Council for review in October 2016. The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council widely solicited opinions, conducted repeated research and modification together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other relevant departments, and formed the "Amendment to the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft)". The draft was passed at the 157th executive meeting of the State Council.

Necessity of Amending the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law:

The current Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law was enacted in 1984 and revised in 1996 and 2008, playing an important role in preventing water pollution. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, China reduced chemical oxygen demand emissions by 12.9% and ammonia nitrogen emissions by 13%, exceeding emission reduction targets. In 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress conducted law enforcement inspections on the implementation of the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, recognizing that water pollution prevention work had achieved phased results and water environment quality had improved. However, it also pointed out that the current water environment quality in China remains not optimistic, the water pollution situation is still severe, and the task of preventing water pollution is arduous. In April of the same year, the State Council issued the "Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan", making comprehensive arrangements for water pollution prevention and establishing a series of new systems and measures. Therefore, it is necessary to amend the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law to further strengthen the responsibilities of local governments, clarify the primary responsibilities of enterprises, improve the systems for total quantity control and discharge permits, drinking water safety assurance, groundwater pollution prevention, water ecological protection, and joint prevention of regional and basin water pollution, increase penalties, and standardize and legalize the systems and measures established in the "Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan".

Main contents of this amendment to the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law:

The draft fully implements the main institutional measures established in the "Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan", aligns with the newly revised Environmental Protection Law, and focuses on the key issues found in the law enforcement inspections by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the prominent issues of general public concern. The main modifications and additions are as follows:

1. Strengthening the responsibilities of local governments. It is stipulated that if water environment quality improvement targets are not met, the relevant city or county-level people's governments shall formulate plans for meeting the standards within a time limit, specifying prevention measures and deadlines for achieving the standards, and are authorized to propose stricter emission control requirements based on the need to meet the standards. (Article 2)

2. Strengthen joint prevention and control of water pollution in river basins and ecological protection. It is stipulated that the environmental protection department of the State Council shall, together with relevant departments and provincial governments, establish a joint coordination mechanism for water environment protection in the basins of major rivers and lakes, and strengthen joint prevention and control of water pollution. At the same time, in order to enhance the carrying capacity of basin environmental resources, it is stipulated that the requirements for basin ecological environment protection should be clarified, monitoring and evaluation should be organized and carried out, and relevant ecological restoration projects should be implemented. Relevant development and construction activities shall take effective measures to maintain the ecological functions of the basin. (Articles 3 and 4)

3. Improve the supervision and management system for water pollution prevention and control. First, ensure coordination between pollutant discharge permits and systems such as total quantity control and standard discharge, and stipulate that pollutant discharge permits should clarify requirements such as the type, concentration, total quantity, and discharge destination of water pollutants (Article 6). Second, improve the environmental monitoring system and clarify the self-monitoring obligations of pollutant discharging units (Article 8). Third, establish a catalog system for toxic and hazardous water pollutants and strengthen risk management (Article 9).

4. Strengthen water pollution prevention and control measures in key areas. In terms of industrial wastewater management, it is clarified that wastewater from industrial agglomeration areas should be treated centrally, and strict discharge requirements should be imposed in terms of groundwater pollution prevention, it is clarified that relevant enterprises and institutions should adopt measures such as anti-seepage to prevent leakage and strengthen groundwater quality monitoring. In terms of agricultural and rural water pollution prevention, it is stipulated that local people's governments at or above the county level should make overall planning and construct rural sewage and garbage treatment facilities; discharge of relevant industrial wastewater into farmland is prohibited. In terms of ship pollution prevention, ships on international routes entering China's inland waters are required to carry out disinfection treatment of ballast water, and ship dismantling operations through beaching are prohibited. (Articles 10 to 18)

5. Strengthen the drinking water safety guarantee system. Based on the existing legal provisions on drinking water source protection zones, the following items are added: First, carry out investigation and assessment of pollution risks in drinking water sources, screen possible pollution risk factors, and take corresponding risk prevention measures; Second, stipulate that cities with a single water source for supply should build emergency water sources or backup water sources, or carry out regional networked water supply. Third, stipulate that in areas with conditions, large-scale centralized water supply should be developed to ensure drinking water safety in rural areas; Fourth, strengthen the responsibilities of drinking water supply units to ensure that water supply quality meets standards, and if not up to standard, punish the supply units; Fifth, strengthen drinking water quality monitoring; relevant information should be disclosed to the public; Sixth, strengthen emergency management of drinking water safety. (Articles 19 to 22, 24, and 31)

Six, strictly enforce legal liability. In line with the spirit of the Environmental Protection Law, strict legal liability is stipulated for illegal acts such as discharging water pollutants without a permit or not in accordance with the permit, exceeding standards, or exceeding total discharge limits, and is linked to the daily fines and detention measures provided for in the Environmental Protection Law. (Articles 28 to 30, 32, and 34)

In addition, according to the Environmental Protection Law and the requirements of the reform of the administrative approval system, relevant provisions are deleted regarding the filing and registration of pollutant discharge, the acceptance and removal or idling approval of water pollution prevention facilities, and the approval of ship operations. (Articles 5, 7, 18, and 25 to 27)