China to ban water-polluting paper mills, oil refineries
Some factories will be outlawed from the end of next year to turn back the tide of contamination in rivers and underground reserves
The mainland will ban water-polluting paper mills, oil refineries, pesticide producers and other industrial plants by the end of next year, as it moves to tackle severe contamination of the water supply.
The long-awaited plan comes as the central government steps up its "war on pollution" after years of industrial development that have left one-third of the mainland's major river basins and 60 per cent of its underground water contaminated.
Growing public discontent over environmental degradation has led to increasing scrutiny of industrial polluters. China National Petroleum Corp last month agreed to pay 100 million yuan (HK$126.7 million) in compensation after it was accused of leaking benzene into the water system in of Lanzhou .
But experts say much more needs to be done to protect scarce water resources.
"Water is the bottleneck to China's industrial development," said Alex Zhang, president of US-based McWong Environmental Technology.