China producing far more industrial waste than previously reported

China Report Finds Extensive Pollution

By SHAI OSTER
Wall Street Journal

BEIJING — China's government said its water is far more polluted and its industry is producing far more waste than previously realized, in a major study that environmentalists welcomed as a step toward greater transparency.

China's first official nationwide census of pollution sources, issued Tuesday, found that the amount of pollution discharged into the water totaled 30.3 million metric tons in 2007 — more than double the 13.8 million tons reported for that year in a report two years ago, where the government claimed water pollution had declined 3% from a year earlier.

At a news conference to unveil the survey, Zhang Lijun , vice minister for environment protection, said the huge increase reflected the census's more accurate measurements that for the first time included wastewater runoff from farms that is laden with chemicals such as ammonia. The chemicals are in fertilizers and pesticides that have revolutionized food cultivation but are misused by millions of farmers who typically work on small, fragmented plots of land.

(More here.)