Rural Water Pollution

Since the early 1980s, China’s battle
against encroaching water pollution
in rural areas has been ongoing and
increasingly difficult. On June 12, when the Law on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution was opened to public comment for the third time since being issued in 1984, the new draft was the first to publicize legal liability for environ- mental violations in livestock farming, aquaculture and illegal discharge of wastewater into irrigation channels. The re- vision stated that it was high time that China curbed industrial, urban and rural water pollution in a coordinated push. Experts cautioned that the solution to the problem of rural water pollution lies in consistently enforced, heavy penalties, as well as the integrated development of urban and rural areas. Pollution is not likely to be effectively curbed until 2025, and it is expected that water standards in Chinese rural areas will reach the level of developed countries in 2050, provided current efforts are successful.