The 28th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress closed in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the afternoon of June 27. The meeting passed the National Intelligence Law, the decision to amend the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, and the decision to amend the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law through voting.
The newly revised Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China has further clarified the water environment quality responsibilities of governments at all levels. The second paragraph of Article 4 shall be revised as follows: "Local people's governments at all levels shall be responsible for the water environment quality in their administrative regions and shall take timely measures to prevent and control water pollution; Add the following contents: "The province, city, county and township shall establish a river leader system, organize and lead the water resources protection, water area shoreline management, water pollution prevention and control, water environment treatment and other work of rivers and lakes in their respective administrative areas at different levels and sections", "The relevant city and county people's governments shall, in accordance with the requirements of the water environment quality improvement goals set out in the water pollution prevention and control plan, formulate a plan to meet the standards within a time limit, and take measures to meet the standards on schedule". At the same time, it is stipulated that "the people's governments at the city and county levels shall report on the implementation of the plan for meeting the water environment quality standards within a specified time limit and make it public to the society when reporting the environmental conditions and the completion of environmental protection goals to the local people's congress or its standing committee every year.
The total control system and pollutant discharge permit system are another important content of the revision of the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law. The newly revised Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law stipulates: "The state implements a total control system for the discharge of key water pollutants." "For areas that exceed the total control indicators for the discharge of key water pollutants or have not achieved the goal of improving water environment quality, the environmental protection department of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall, in conjunction with relevant departments, hold talks with the main person in charge of the local people's government and suspend the approval of the environmental impact assessment documents for construction projects that increase the total discharge of key water pollutants. The talks shall be made public to the society." It is decided to change Article 20 to Article 21 and modify it to: "Enterprises, institutions, and other producers and operators that directly or indirectly discharge industrial wastewater, medical wastewater, and other wastewater and sewage that should obtain a discharge permit according to regulations shall obtain a discharge permit before discharging into water bodies; The operating unit of urban sewage centralized treatment facilities should also obtain a pollutant discharge permit. The pollutant discharge permit shall specify the types, concentrations, total amounts, and discharge destinations of water pollutants to be discharged. The specific measures for pollutant discharge permits shall be formulated by the State Council.
The newly revised Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law modifies Article 25 to read: "The state establishes a system for monitoring water environment quality and monitoring water pollutant emissions. The environmental protection department of the State Council is responsible for formulating water environment monitoring standards, uniformly publishing national water environment status information, organizing monitoring networks in conjunction with water administrative departments of the State Council, uniformly planning the setting of national water environment quality monitoring stations (points), establishing a monitoring data sharing mechanism, and strengthening the management of water environment monitoring, "The competent environmental protection department under the State Council shall, together with the water administration department under the State Council and other departments and the people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, establish a joint coordination mechanism for water environment protection of major rivers and lakes, and implement unified planning, unified standards, unified monitoring and unified prevention and control measures"; The competent department of environmental protection under the State Council and the competent departments of environmental protection under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in conjunction with relevant departments at the same level, clarify the requirements for the protection of the ecological environment of the watershed according to the functional needs of the watershed, organize the monitoring and evaluation of the watershed environmental resource carrying capacity, and implement early warning of the watershed environmental resource carrying capacity.
In addition, the newly revised Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law has made corresponding additions and modifications to address the impact on public health and ecological environment, cracking down on illegal pollution discharge and data fraud, operating urban sewage treatment plants, preventing and controlling livestock and poultry breeding pollution, and protecting and managing drinking water sources.
This decision shall come into effect on January 1, 2018. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution shall be amended accordingly and reissued in accordance with this decision.
It is understood that the current Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law was formulated in 1984 and was revised twice in 1996 and 2008.
CN