China releases first national pollution census
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020900523.html
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The survey, which took two years and 570,000 staff to complete, puts China ahead of other developing countries in having a detailed map of who is polluting and where.
For the first time, China has factored agricultural sources into its pollution studies.
"That's huge," Seligsohn said. "Many challenges China faces in terms of water quality come from organic pollution rather than from chemicals."
Until now, the foundation of China's policymaking and environmental planning wasn't firm because agricultural pollution wasn't included, said Ma Jun, perhaps China's best-known environmentalist. He led efforts to create the country's first public database on water pollution, now posted online.
China's new government database of 5.9 million pollution sources included in the national census is not yet publicly available - which Ma and environmental groups picked up on right away.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020900523....
For the first time, China has factored agricultural sources into its pollution studies.
"That's huge," Seligsohn said. "Many challenges China faces in terms of water quality come from organic pollution rather than from chemicals."
Until now, the foundation of China's policymaking and environmental planning wasn't firm because agricultural pollution wasn't included, said Ma Jun, perhaps China's best-known environmentalist. He led efforts to create the country's first public database on water pollution, now posted online.
China's new government database of 5.9 million pollution sources included in the national census is not yet publicly available - which Ma and environmental groups picked up on right away.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020900523....
