Gloomy outlook for pollution targets

The first six months of this year have seen a 6.17 percent rise in nitrogen oxides released into the atmosphere than in the same period a year ago, challenging the realization of the pollutant reduction goal of 1.5 percent for 2011, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

Statistics shows discharge of chemical oxygen demand – a measure of water pollution – and sulfur dioxide decreased by 1.63 percent and 1.74 percent respectively compared with the same period last year, while ammonia nitrogen decreased 0.73 percent.

Ammonia nitrogen and nitrogen oxides were newly added to the emission indexes list for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

Nitrogen emissions, which are a major cause of acid rain and smog, are harmful to the human respiratory system and can cause cardiovascular disease.

Ammonia nitrogen mainly comes from animal waste and garbage, while nitrogen oxides come from car emissions and thermal power plants.

Zhao Zhangyuan, a professor with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, told the Global Times that he's not optimistic about the 1.5 percent target.

"We do not lack the technical means, but do need a better management of discharge reduction," he said.

Beijing stands out as the only city that saw a decrease in all the four major pollutant emissions.

"Adding ammonia nitrogen and nitrogen oxide onto the list during the 12th Five-Year Plan indicates that pollution caused by them has been serious over the past five years.

"They are mainly found in water, which is the most serious pollution problem in China now," he added.

"Nitrogen oxides have exceeded sulfur dioxide as the major pollutants in the air. Acid rain has now changed from a sulfur-type to nitric acid-type," Zhao Hualin, the director with the Department of Total Pollutants Control under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said earlier last year when he explained the addition of the two new emission indexes at a strategic forum on the urban water industry in Beijing.

From 2011 to 2015, China hopes to reduce its emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia nitrogen by 10 percent below what they were in 2010, and to cut emissions of sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand by 8 percent during the same period.