Chapter 4: Analysis
4.3 Indicator Analysis
4.3.3 Water Quality
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pollution, especially PM2.5 and formaldehyde, which are considered main pollutants in buildings. The research also used HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Airfilter) filters to improve the air quality and measured the effect before and after the usage. After implementing HEPA-filters the air quality, which at some points was 3.46 times higher than the favored standard value, could effectively be reduced to under the standard value in only 3 hours. The planting and use of indoor plants could also help to drastically reduce the formaldehyde pollution.137
The installation of such air purifying systems should have happened during the construction and development process, but may be installed later after the results of the above-mentioned study.
4.3.3 Water Quality
China is not only facing troubles due to air pollution; concerns about the surface water quality are becoming more. It is not only since the incident in the Huangpu River in March 2013138 that people have been concerned about the water quality in China.
In 2009 the Chinese MoHURD conducted a survey in about 4000 water treatment plants in order to obtain further information about the nation’s water quality and treatment. It took about four years and was only possible due to insider information about results of the water quality and China’s drinking water conditions. As a result the MoHURD revealed the results of the report and the
137 Chen, Chen, Xiao-Ping Li, and Jing-Jing Yan. “Study on indoor pollutants removal approaches for buildings in Tianjin Eco-city.” In Environment, energy and sustainable development. Edited by Wen-Pei Sung, Jimmy C. M. Kao and Ran Chen. 2 vols., 31–6 1. Leiden: CRC Press, 2014, 31ff.
138 Approximately 16000 pig carcasses have been floating in the river and later fished out of the river (which is one of the water supplies for the city Shanghai).
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Chinese government announced enormous spending of 410 billion Chinese RMB (circa 66 billion US$) to improve water quality in urban regions by 2016.139
More remarkable is that in the year 1985 China’s cities’ water sources for drinking water were regarded as clean. Whereas back then microorganisms were considered the main pollutant of water sources, nowadays soluble organic pollutants and heavy metal ions are seen as the main sources of water contamination. According to Liu Wenjun (劉文君)140 a lot of areas in China still use conventional water treatment technology which is also still partly used in Europe and Canada, despite their not having such heavy pollution. Due to the pollution such treatment methods are not effective for China’s water sources; by the end of 2009 about 4000 treatment facilities (98 percent) at or above county level were still relying on conventional technology.141 Furthermore, an old and outdated network of pipes as well as secondary water pollution is also preventing an effective solution of the problem.
An expert in the drinking water industry phrased the importance of water quality as follows:
For the government, improving water supply is the most fundamental way of improving people's lives, more fundamental than fixing roads, building high-speed railways or constructing high rises. In the past few decades, it has become the most neglected way of improving people's lives. For every person, tap water is like air – you can’t choose it and you can’t escape from it.142
139 Gong, Jing, and Liu, Hongqiao 宮靖, 劉虹橋. “Zhongguo yiban chengshi yinyongshui bu hege ˊ翁國一半 城市飲用水不合格 [Half of China’s urban drinking water fails to meet standards].” Xinshiji zhoukan 新世 紀周刊 21st Century Weekly, June 6, 2013. https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/ch/6074-Half-of-China-s-urban-drinking-water-fails-to-meet-standards (accessed June 1, 2014).
140 Head of the Institute of Drinking Water Safety Research at Tsinghua University
141 Gong and Liu, Half of China’s urban drinking water fails to meet standards.
142 ibid.
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The SSTEC’s KPI framework states that it has to meet surface water quality standards of at least Grade IV of the PRC’s National Standard GB 3838-2002, which is divided into five different Grades (Grade I to Grave V). The Eco-city has time until its completion in 2020 to fulfill those requirements. Every value of the surface water quality standards have at least meet the Grade IV standards, which is the second lowest level to reach. Grade I has the highest demands and standards, while Grade V is the lowest.143 It has to be noted that some of the mandatory have the same values for different grades, e.g. Cu (copper) has a value of ≤ 0.01 for Grade I, but Grade II to Grade V all have values less or equal to 1.0.
In the following paragraphs I want to compare some of the surface water quality standards, comparing the EU and US standards with China’s Grade IV and Grade I standards.
Table 3 Comparison of Water Quality Standards
Contaminant Unit EU US CN: Grade IV CN: Grade I
Arsenic μg/l 10 10 100 50
Benzene μg/l 1 5 10144
Cadmium μg/l 5 5 5 1
Cooper mg/l 2.0 1.3 1 0.01
Cyanide μg/l 50 200 200 5
Fluoride mg/l 1.5 4 1.5 1
Lead μg/l 10 15 50 10
Mercury μg/l 1 2 1 0.05
Source: PRC National Surface Water Standards; EU Water Directive, United States Environmental Protection Agency
143 Zhonghua renmin gongheguo guojia biaozhun GB3838-2002 中華人民共和國國家標準GB3838-2002「地 表水環境質量標準」[People's Republic of China National Standards GB3838-2002 Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water]: GB3838-2002. 2002, 5.
144 Due to the fact that this contaminant is not classified in Grades, but rather centralized with a limitation.
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As the above presented figure illustrates, there is a great disparity between the different standards. The US and EU standards are most of the time equal, whereas only the Grade I standards is most of the time equivalent to the former two standards. Of course there are also exceptions in which cases the Grade IV is equal to the international standards of both other regions, furthermore some Grade I standards in China have lower maximum values than both the US and EU. Whether or not those lower standards are representing realistic values which can be reached is anyone’s guess.
In particular the standards for copper are comparatively remarkable, considering China’s high usage of metals of all types and their processing in industrial areas. The wide-range of deviations and accordance on the one side between the different Grades in China itself and on the other side towards the norms in the US and the EU might indicate that some of the targets are rather hard to achieve on the Chinese side.
It is also necessary to mention that several contaminants have limited restrictions and maximum values either in the EU or the US, but miss an equivalent value for the Chinese water quality standards. Bromate for example is a byproduct of drinking water disinfection, even though the US’s long-term goal for the maximum contaminant level aims for no residue after the treatment.
Researches in China have found Bromate in the water of the Yangtze River145, and a plan with suggestions for the treatment of the missing and other contaminants was drafted by the MoHURD in 2009.146 The same draft mentions
145 Huang, Xin, Naiyun Gao, and Yang Deng. “Bromate ion formation in dark chlorination and
ultraviolet/chlorination processes for bromide-containing water.” Journal of Environmental Sciences 20, no. 2 (2008): 246–251.
146 “2009-2012 Nian chengshi gongshui shuizhi baozhang he sheshi gaizao guihua: xiangmu shenbao yaoqiu《2009-2012 年城市供水水質保障和設施改造規劃》[City water supply quality guarantee and facilities remodelling plan for the years 2009-2012].”.
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making use of treatment measures for O3 (ozone) in order to prevent exceeding the Bromate standards. A previous blueprint for the later implemented National Water Standards for China intended to include values for Bromate similar to American and European standards147, the exclusion of this factor is not quite clear.
Whereas the national agenda doesn’t dictate any special timeframes for meeting certain standards, the Tianjin Eco-city has clearer regulations and target goals.
The fact that the eco-city only has to fulfill Grade IV standards implies that the city and the developer of the KPI framework see a big challenge in obtaining appropriate water quality. Furthermore several contaminants are not listed in the China’s water quality standards making the evaluation of the SSTEC’s achievements limited to national standards. The neglecting of contaminants, especially those of non-organic origin due to the water treatment process itself, discharge from refineries, waste disposal, erosion and factories may not only make it harder to implement stricter new regulations for those “pollutants” and other previous contaminants but lead to health problems which might cause social disturbances.
A recent case in the Lanzhou prefectural-level city in April 2014 caused a civil commotion after the national government informed the 2.5 million residents in the capital of Gansu province that the water supply system was contaminated
147 “2009-2012 Nian chengshi gongshui shuizhi baozhang he sheshi gaizao guihua: xiangmu shenbao yaoqiu《2009-2012年城市供水水質保障和設施改造規劃》項目申報要求 [City water supply quality guarantee and facilities remodelling plan for the years 2009-2012] Request for project report.”.
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with dangerous substances.148 Water samples showed twenty times higher concentration of the contaminant Benzene 149 (200 micrograms per liter).
Dangerous levels of mercury and arsenic already have been found in the freshwater ecosystem in the largest lake in the North China plain, one of the main water supply sources for the northern regions of China.150
Including the above-mentioned study results, this just shows a glimpse at the fact that the actual quality of the water is not necessarily in accordance to the water quality standards. Of course, these are just examples and can’t represent the actual situation in Tianjin and the Tianjin Eco-city, but it makes it clear how important it is to obtain and preserve appropriate water quality. One of the selection criteria was a non-arable landscape which would need special treatment and preservation to obtain appropriate water bodies. The designers of the eco-city were aware of this situation, and this might explain why they specified such low water quality standards.
If some parts of the Grade IV regulations are below western water quality standards and these levels might be regarded as threats to people’s health as well as possibly causing long-term problems for the human body and nature, it is questionable that this is reasonable and responsible behavior. The acquisition of drinkable tap water might not be conforming to international standards concerning some of the contaminants. Most of the EU and US water quality standards are equivalent to WHO water quality standards. The water may be drinkable, but for example Bromate is known to increase the risk of cancer;
148 Philips, Tom. “Panic after Chinese city declares tap water toxic.” The Telegraph, April 11, 2014.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10760027/Panic-after-Chinese-city-declares-tap-water-toxic.html (accessed May 15, 2014).
149 May cause possible anemia, decrease in blood platelets and/or increased risk of cancer.
150 Chen, C. Y., P. C. Pickhardt, M. Q. Xu, and C. L. Folt. “Mercury and Arsenic Bioaccumulation and Eutrophication in Baiyangdian Lake, China.” Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 190, 1-4 (2008): 115–127.
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without any national standard or a new standard which could have been set by a new regulation for the eco-city in Tianjin, such problems might still exist.
The treatment and rehabilitation of existing water bodies as well as wastewater and non-conventional water treatment is a task which needs the SSTEC’s full attention. Moreover it would be preferable if the eco-city could raise its water quality standards, especially in order to help to provide and achieve another indicator’s requirement: water from taps meeting drinking water (potable) standards.
One of the crucial factors for the eco-city may be the observation and controlling of the quality standards (not only restricted to water quality and security), but as the eco-city is supposed to be surrounded by a blue and green network it is essential to provide appropriate controlling mechanisms, because once the water quality becomes unattainable it can become a threat towards the green network as well. Furthermore it should be mentioned that the necessity of functioning and regularly performed evaluations and controlling mechanisms are not a restricted and fixed Chinese phenomenon, but are necessary around the globe, so it should be an all-out effort to make sure that the work of governments, agencies and responsible entities is being controlled, at best by independent institutions. If that is not possible, then involved third actors such as international corporations might function as evaluating instances and help to guarantee the compliance with regulations and standards.