Surface Water Pollution and Water Management
Water Management and regulation for Controlling Surface Water Pollution in Tai Lake, Eastern China
MSc. Thesis by Shang Luo March 2014 Water Resources Management group
Surface Water Policy and Water Management
Water Management and Regulation for Controlling Surface Water Pollution in Tai Lake, Eastern China
Master thesis Water Resources Management submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Science in International Land and Water Management at Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Shang Luo
March 2014
Supervisor(s): Dr.ir. Alex Bolding Dr. Yongxiang Wu Water Resources Management group Hydrology and Water Resource Research Group Wageningen University Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute The Netherlands China www.wageningenur.nl/wrm www.nhri.cu
Abstract
In recent decades, surface water pollution in Tai Lake, Eastern China has mainly been caused by eutrophication, in other words, Tai Lake has been suffering from excessive phosphors and nitrogen loads that have been discharged from surrounding agriculture and industry. As shown by the international experience, integrated river basin management can be an effective way to solve these kinds of water problems. Hence, after several years’ efforts, the Management Regulations of the Taihu Basin (MRTB) have been endorsed, which was regarded to be the first step in the direction of instituting integrated river basin management in China. However, how effective the regulation worked remains unknown.
Through an empirical survey, the implementation, outcomes as well as policy issues of the MRTB were analyzed. The three main stakeholders, including the government, residents and factories indeed promoted some methods to resist the water pollution, as reflected in the high ratio of sewage pipe connections, weakening of the endogenous pollution load, increasing the environmental capacity and recycling use of algae.
On the other hand, results also show that to a certain extent the ‘tied interests’ have been a response to evade the implementation of water pollution control. Different actors may employ their resources and strategies to implement water pollution control, but they also evade it, though sometimes this may not happen on purpose, but rather as an indirect side effect of other policies. In addition, an inappropriate ratio of water services and fines, low administrative level of river basin agency, lack of agricultural restrictions and limited possibilities for public participation are also problematic.
Some practical measures on reducing eutrophication in the Danube catchment are highlighted, such as precision farming, ‘Best Agricultural Practice’ (BAP) projects, the introduction of alternative technologies for wastewater treatment and the use of phosphate-free detergents. As an advanced directive, some articles and guidelines included in the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD) could be helpful to address the observed problems in Tai Lake. The recommendations mainly pertain to ways to solve the issues occurring in the implementation and establishment of the MRTB, such as providing incentives for organic farming and better agricultural practices, listing ‘hazardous priority substances’, completing the phase-out of these substances gradually and encouraging the use of phosphate-free detergents.
This case study demonstrates that the control of TN, NH3 and SD in Zhushan Lake (sub-basin of Tai Lake) gets better, but it is the reverse for TP and CODMn, and the impact of Chl-a does not change a lot. However, issues are also obvious and actions are required, such as raising public awareness and participation and reducing nutrients discharge from agriculture.
I Acknowledgments
My thesis was made possible with the help of a lot of individuals and organizations. It is my great pleasure to thank:
Wageningen University, Water Resources Management Group (Alex Bolding) Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Department of Hydrology and Water Resources (Yongxiang Wu) Taihu Basin Authority (Zhong Qin, Wei Zhu, Jianchun Ye) Taihu Basin Water Environment Monitoring Center (Bin Zhao, Aichun Shen) Xueyan Sewage Plant (Li Yang) Wuxi Water board (Bin Zhang)
In addition to all listed above, I also thanks to many individuals who have contributed to my education leading up to the thesis. My appreciation is especially extended to those individuals who facilitated my research, showed me the ropes, and put up with answering questions in the mid-summer heat.
II Contents
1. Introduction...... 1 1.1 Background ...... 2 1.1.1 Regional background ...... 2 1.1.2 Policy background ...... 2 1.1.3 Scientific background ...... 3 1.2 Problem statement ...... 3 1.3 Research objectives ...... 4 1.4 Concepts and theories ...... 4 1.4.1 Concept of arena...... 4 1.4.2 Degree of surface water pollution ...... 5 1.4.3 Policy framework on water pollution control ...... 7 1.5 Research questions...... 7 1.6 Research methodology ...... 8 1.7 Thesis outline ...... 12 2. Water pollution control regulated and implemented in Tai Lake ...... 13 2.1 Actors included and excluded in water pollution control ...... 12 2.2 Stake, issues and debates ...... 16 2.2.1 Stakes in the water pollution control ...... 16 2.2.2 Issues and causes in water pollution control ...... 18 2.2.3 Debates on the failure of water pollution control ...... 19 2.3 Rules of the game ...... 20 2.3.1 Strategies for implementing and evading water pollution control ...... 20 2.3.2 Tied interests that result in differences in pollution levels ...... 23 2.4 Shape of interaction around water pollution control ...... 24 2.4.1 Water pollution control shaped in time and space ...... 24 2.4.2 Interaction in time and space...... 25 2.5 Results and effects ...... 26 2.6 Conclusions ...... 30 3. Degree of water bloom proliferation in Zhushan Lake ...... 35 3.1 Research area- Zhushan Lake, Wuxi ...... 31 3.2 Eutrophication evaluation on Zhushan Lake ...... 32 3.3 Expected objective and actual outcome ...... 42 3.4 Conclusions ...... 48 4. Discussion ...... 49 4.1 Discussion of issues at policy level ...... 50 4.2 The EU-WFD- example of the Danube catchment ...... 56 5. Conclusions and recommendations ...... 59 5.1 Conclusions ...... 59 5.2 Recommendations ...... 60 5.3 Reflection...... 62 References ...... 63 ANNEX I ...... 65 ANNEX II ...... 67 ANNEX III ...... 69
III List of tables and Figures
Table 1 Lakes (Reservoirs) Eutrophication Evaluation Method ...... 6 Table 2 Interview list and field schedule ...... 10 Table 3 Mandates and means of governmental agencies ...... 15 Table 4 Basic information about Wuxi and Suzhou in 2012 ...... 23 Table 5 The content of pollutants in the inlets and outlets of Tai Lake ...... 26 Table 6 The density of water bloom in the sub-basins Unit: ×10,000/L...... 32 Table 7 Eutrophication evaluation in 2007 ...... 34 Table 8 Eutrophication evaluation in 2008 ...... 35 Table 9 Eutrophication evaluation in 2009 ...... 36 Table 10 Eutrophication evaluation in 2010 ...... 37 Table 11 Eutrophication evaluation in 2011 ...... 38 Table 12 Eutrophication evaluation in 2012 ...... 39 Table 13 Eutrophication evaluation in 2013 ...... 40 Table 14 Average value variation in Zhushan Lake in August, September and October from 2007 to 2013 ...... 41 Table 15 Water quality objectives in Tai Lake ...... 43 Table 16 The comparison of actual outcome and objective (Reservoirs) ...... 46 Table 17 The ratio of N/P and TP, TN and Chl-a concentration from 2011 to 2013 ...... 44
Figure 1 Map of the Taihu basin ...... 3 Figure 2 Conceptual framework ...... 7 Figure 3 The process of setting the total volume of main pollutants discharge and the stakeholders involved in this .. 15 Figure 4 Actors’ categorization ...... 20 Figure 5 Map of the Taihu basin ...... 23 Figure 6 The achievement ratio of water quality in the 101 districts ...... 26 Figure 7 The location of Xueyan Town ...... 28 Figure 8 Automatic monitoring room ...... 31 Figure 9 Water transferring routes in the Taihu basin ...... 29 Figure 10 Nine sub-basins in the Taihu basin ...... 31 Figure 11 The categorization of water quality of the sub-basins in 2012 (TBA, 2012) ...... 32 Figure 12 Measuring spots in Tai Lake ...... 33 Figure 13 Variation of indicators from 2007 to 2013...... 41
Figure 14 The variation of TP and CODMn from 2005 to 2012 yearly ...... 42
Figure 15 The concentration change of NH3-N and TN from 2007 to 2012 (TBA, 2012) ...... 43 Figure 16 The water in the ecosystem zone around a sewage plant ...... 47 Figure 17 The structure of ICPDR ...... 52
IV Acronyms and Abbreviations
MRTB Management Regulations of the Taihu Basin
EU-WFD European Union Water Framework Directive
TBA Taihu Basin Authority
Chl-a Chlorophyll-a
TN Total Nitrogen
TP Total Phosphor
COD Chemical Oxygen Demand
WABEIS Water Algal Bloom Evaluation Index System
SD Secchi Disk
Permanganate CODMn
CAS Chinese Academy of Science
TWCB Taihu Water Conservation Bureau
DWA Department of Water Administration
DEP Department of Environment Protection
CSC China State Council
GDP Gross Domestic Product
CAC Command and Control
NAO National Audit Office
DRPC Danube River Protection Convention
ICPDR International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River
V VI 1. Introduction
China is a country with serious water scarcity levels due to a large population with a limited supply of water resources and uneven water distribution in both time and space. Simultaneously, the Chinese economy is in the transition stage of increased urbanization and industrialization. Because of the long-term extensive development, China has to pay a tremendous cost in resources and environmental damage while attaining enormous achievements in the economy. Hence, there is a great challenge with controlling water pollution. As shown by the international experience, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is seen as an effective way to solve these kinds of water problems (the EU-WFD handbook, 2008). IWRM is the management of surface and subsurface water in a qualitative, quantitative and environmental sense from a multi-disciplinary and participatory perspective. There is a focus on the needs and requirements of society at large with regard to water at the present and in the future, thus aiming at maximum sustainability in all senses (cf. van Hofwegen and Jaspers, 1999). Hence, IWRM can be defined as ‘the management of all surface and subsurface water resources of the river basin in its entirety with due attention to water quality, water quantity and environmental integrity. A participatory approach is followed, focusing on the integration of natural limitations with all social, economic and environmental interests.’ (Jasper, 2003) This concept has been applied in Europe and other parts of basin governance. Likewise, the Chinese government is gaining experience and exploring the integrated management model in the field of water resources management. To facilitate this work, during the eighth China-EU Summit in September 2005, the two sides have determined to foster cooperation in river basin management projects. As a major partner of China, the Ministry of Water Resources is cooperating with the EU to implement river basin management projects and looks forward to learning from Europe in the fields of management of water resources, water pollution, prevention, and other advanced technologies and management concepts. Hence, Taihu Basin Authority (TBA) attached to the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources endorsed the Management and Regulation of the Taihu Basin (MRTB), which has been an outcome of cooperation between China and the EU with the core objective of achieving integrated water resources management.
With this research project, I want to study water management and regulations for preventing surface water pollution in Tai Lake. The central question of my research will be what the status of surface water pollution is in Tai Lake, and how the EU-WFD inspired regulations might help to address some of the present flaws in pollution control. For this purpose, I hope to unearth the issues in the process of policy formulation, implementation and outcomes related to the MRTB. Further attention will be given to which new aspects and suggestions in terms of surface water pollution control could be helpful to be included in the regulation. For the purpose of this study I have selected the most seriously polluted location, indicated by official data, performed field research to see how stakeholders’ are involved, I have taken water quality samples from the affected areas and analyzed them. At last, I use a framework to analyze why there are differences between policy, implementation and outcome.
In the remainder of this chapter, I will provide some further information to illustrate the situation about the regional, political and scientific background situation. This is followed by an outline of research objectives, and a brief problem statement. Next, I will go on to explain the analytic framework in depth, which I will use to show my findings, and the questions guiding the research. Finally, I will present my research strategy and methodology, with a brief explanation of the
1 different study sites and their relevance. An outline of this thesis concludes the chapter. A detailed work schedule is attached in the Annex.
1.1 Background
1.1.1 Regional background Tai Lake is the second largest fresh water lake in China covering 2,250 km², located in the Yangtze Delta plain, on the border of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in Eastern China (Figure 1). The waters of the lake belong to the former Province in its entirety with part of its southern shore forming the boundary between the two provinces. The lake houses about 90 islands, ranging in size from a few square meters to several square miles (TBA, 2010). Tai Lake is linked to the renowned Grand Canal and is the origin of a number of streams, including Suzhou Creek. Three main settlements share the usufruct and ownership of Tai Lake, which are Suzhou (70%), Wuxi (28.5%) and Huzhou (1.5%) (TBA, 2010). In recent decades, Tai Lake has become increasingly polluted due to the rapid economic growth in the neighboring region. Currently, the most prevalent form of surface water pollution is water blooms as a result of excessive phosphorus and nitrogen emissions by the industry and agriculture bordering the Lake. Tai Lake belongs to the Taihu basin, which is the highest economically developed basin among all the basins in China. Per capita GDP of the two provinces and one municipality in the basin (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai) has reached to 6,000 euros in 2007, much higher than the second placed basin, Haihe River Basin (with 2,000 euros), and it is now close to the level of developed countries (Wang, 2011). Simultaneously, due to the rapid economic growth, there is more serious water pollution in the Taihu basin. According to the way IWRM has been coined and implemented in the EU, it is firmly based on environmental concerns talking prevalence over water quantity concerns, like droughts and floods.
1.1.2 Policy background After the mid-1990s, because of the serious water pollution, the Chinese government promoted a large-scale water pollution control action, especially in Tai Lake. However, after a ten-year effort, water pollution was found not to be reduced, but continued to increase. In 2007, there was a large-scale outbreak of alga occurred in Tai Lake, leading to ‘water crisis’ among the residents living around. Afterwards, the government was motivated to strengthen the water pollution control at the national level (Wang, 2011). The ministry of water resources and environmental protection promoted unprecedented large-scale water environmental governance, such as shutting down most of the factories around Tai Lake and speeding up the formulation of the integrated river basin regulation.
2 Figure 1 Map of the Taihu basin
At that time, one group of experts discussed and drafted a program and made some targeted design. The program was not only for the environmental governance of (surface) water, but a very comprehensive one for integrated river basin management, which also laid an important foundation for present the MRTB. In terms of another crucial background, Taihu Basin Authority (TBA) required strengthening of the institutional implementation mechanisms to enforce the environmental regulations that have been put in place. According to the government record, the deterioration of the Taihu basin water environment that started in the 1990s was largely due to factories emitting sewage (Wang, 2011). So far, after several years’ efforts, the MRTB has been promoted, which was regarded to be the first step in the direction of instituting integrated river basin management in China. The MRTB is the first regulation in terms of the management of the whole river basin compared to previous water laws that just aimed at regulating some aspects only.
1.1.3 Scientific background Water bloom is the most serious form of surface water pollution in Tai Lake, which is mainly caused by nutrient-rich effluents from industry and agriculture being released into the river system from Suzhou, Wuxi and Huzhou. The MRTB was endorsed by the State Council of China from November 1st, 2011 onward (China Water News, 2011). Its regulations emphasize the prevention of water pollution, though there still may be some unsatisfactory issues involved with policy and practice in the regulation. As an advanced framework, the EU-WFD may contain some protocols and regulations which may help address some of the weaknesses contained in the MRTB. Hence, I am going to compare what the differences in the regulation of water pollution control is between the MRTB and the EU-WFD and how the EU-WFD could help address some problems in enhancing water pollution control in Tai Lake. In addition, there is an evaluation system of the degree of water pollution from Zhang, which will be used to analyze the level of surface water pollution in Tai Lake.
1.2 Problem statement
Within the recent decade, surface water pollution in Tai Lake has mainly been caused by eutrophication, in other words, excessive phosphorus and nitrogen loads have been discharged from surrounding agriculture and industry. It is unclear what the extent of the water pollution is at present and will be in the future. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to assess whether the MRTB is a
3 comprehensive water management and regulation capable of dealing with the complex issue of water pollution control among different stakeholders in both theory and practice. As an advanced directive, whether the EU-WFD could help address some problems occurred in the MRTB also remains unknown.
1.3 Research objectives
Firstly, from a societal perspective, when considering IWRM in Tai Lake, this study may raise some suggestions to the MRTB in enhancing surface water pollution control, especially controlling water bloom, which is a first step to realize the lofty aims of integrated river basin management. Insights gained from this research could be used to know how the control happens in practice and to what extent of eutrophication in Tai Lake is indeed controlled or not. From the information I have gathered about Tai Lake, a research like this has not been done so far.
In addition, from a scientific perspective, surface water pollution is a universal problem in river basins in Europe. The research is able to provide reference to and draw lessons from the experience of management of similar river basins in Europe, especially in preventing and controlling pollution.
Finally, at a personal level, as a Chinese student studying water management in Europe, I am convinced that it is essential for me to strengthen the understanding of both Chinese and European advanced concepts and link them together.
1.4 Concepts and theories
1.4.1 Concept of arena It is known that land and water use systems are very technically dynamic. Mollinga proposed the idea of technology development as a dynamic process, and also provided some analytic tools to think through this idea further (Mollinga, 1993). The concept of arena is one of the analytic tools, which enables us to have a much more realistic understanding of what design and construction is about. In terms of Tai Lake case, surface water pollution control could be the design, and the questions Mollinga displayed below are able to help me know how actual implementation of the water pollution control is in Tai Lake (Mollinga, 1993):
1. Who are the actors that participate in the arena? And, which actors are excluded?
2. What is at stake in the arena? What is the issue/are the issues? What is it that people talk/negotiate/struggle about?
3. Which resources and strategies do the different actors employ, and what are the ‘rules of the game’?
4. How is the arena shaped in time and space? When and where does interaction take place?
5. What is the outcome of the interaction: what concrete results and effects does it produce?
4 I am convinced that the questions above are valuable to investigate the policy process of the MRTB in Tai Lake. The questions above will be answered step by step in the second chapter through literature review, interview and observation.
1.4.2 Degree of surface water pollution The most serious surface water pollution problem in Tai Lake is caused by eutrophication, in other words, excessive phosphorus and nitrogen loads being released by surrounding agriculture and industry inducing water blooms to proliferate. The influencing factors involved in the spread of water blooms in Tai Lake mainly consist of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphor (TP), and another two indicators, Permanganate index (CODMn), and Secchi Disk Depth (SD) can be used to indicate the level of eutrophication (Horne, 1994). Firstly, Chl-a and COD can indicate the extent of the blooms, because Chl-a reflects the categories and number of the alga and CODMn is an indicator of the number of oxygen reducing substances in the water. In addition, TN and TP are the representatives of nutrient status. When the content of TN and TP has reached up to 0.2mg/L and 2.0mg/L respectively, the water is regarded as eutrophic. And Secchi Disk Depth (SD) is a physical indicator of turbidity which is taken as an indicator of eutrophication, considering that in addition to factors other than phytoplankton may have an impact on the water transparency (Perakis, 1996). So, it is more reasonable to take it into account.
Currently, there are three categories of index systems for evaluating the proliferation of water blooms: 1. The content of Chl-a can give the direct indication to the risk degree of water blooms (Li, 2009),
2. Use the content of TN and TP as a proxy for the proliferation of water bloom assuming a virtually linear relationship between increase in levels of N and P and proliferation of water bloom (though obviously there is a limit to this relationship (Zhen, 2006).
3. Treat remote sensing as the primary source of information, distinguishing the extent of water blooms by inverting the distributed characteristics on the surface of water blooms (Duan, 2008)
Hence, the five indicators below allow a quantitative analysis of the relationship between the extent and impact factor of water blooms and provide the foundation and support for an early warning system on the threat of eutrophication, forecasting and evaluation. From an article from Zhang, it shows a water algal bloom evaluation index system in Tai Lake (Table 1).
5 Extent of eutrophication Value TP TN Chl-a CODMn SD
TLI(Σ)-Trophic State Index Ea mg/L mg/L mg/L mg/L m 10 0.001 0.020 0.0005 0.15 10.0 Oligotropher 0≤EI≤20 20 0.004 0.050 0.0010 0.4 5.0 30 0.010 0.100 0.0020 1.0 3.0 Mesotropher 20 Table 1 Lakes (Reservoirs) Eutrophication Evaluation Method Next, I tend to introduce the calculation of eutrophication levels, which is called The Integrated Nutritional Index (TINI). The following expression was used to calculate the lake eutrophication levels for each of the indicators: (1) TLI (Chl) = 10 (2.5+1.085 ln Chl) (2) TLI (TP) = 10 (29.436+1.624 ln TP) (3) TLI (TN) = 10 (5.453+1.694 ln TN) (4) TLI (SD) = 10 (5.118-1.94 ln SD) (5) TLI (CODMn) = 10 (0.019 +2661 ln CODMn) In the formula above, Chl is in mg/m3, SD is in m, and the rest indicators are in mg/L. During the fieldwork, I performed a literature review partly to confirm the most seriously polluted spot in terms of surface water in Tai Lake, as well as taking samples from the spot. Then, with the assessment method outlined above, I evaluated the degree of surface water pollution in the past and present to find out whether there is an improvement of water quality after the execution of the regulation. 1.4.3 Policy framework on water pollution control An article written by Helmer and Hespanhol (1997) illustrates a comprehensive policy framework for guiding principles and strategy formulation in the field of water pollution control, which can be used to identify some problematic aspects of the MRTB at the policy level. The following guiding principles provide a suitable basis for sound management of water pollution (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997, page 3): Prevent pollution rather than treating symptoms of pollution. Use the precautionary principle. Apply the polluter-pays-principle. Apply realistic standards and regulations. Balance economic and regulatory instruments. 6 Apply water pollution control at the lowest appropriate level. Establish mechanisms for cross-sectoral integration. Encourage participatory approach with involvement of all relevant stakeholders. Give open access to information on water pollution. Promote international co-operation on water pollution control. All of these ten standards should be met to achieve effective water pollution control, in other words, a comprehensive water policy has to consist of these components. In chapter 4, I will check whether the MRTB meets the criteria. In addition, the EU-WFD can be a good example to check the regulation as well, especially addressing some problems observed in the research. Therefore, the picture (Figure 2) below indicates my conceptual framework including the relationship between the three sets of concepts I mentioned above. Figure 2 Conceptual framework 1.5 Research questions 1. How is water pollution control in Tai Lake regulated and implemented particularly with regard to the control of water bloom proliferation? a. Who are the actors that participate in water pollution control in Tai Lake? And, which actors are excluded in the regulation? b. What is at stake in executing water pollution control? What is the issue/are the issues? What is it that people talk/negotiate/struggle about? c. Which resources and strategies do the different actors employ to implement (evade) water pollution control, and what are the ‘rules of the game’? d. How is water pollution control shaped in time and space? When and where does interaction take place? 7 e. What is the outcome of the interaction: what concrete results and effects does it produce? 2. What is the current surface water pollution，especially water blooms in Tai Lake, and how did the situation improve/deteriorate since the implementation of the MRTB? a. Where is the most seriously polluted spot in terms of surface water in Tai Lake? And why? b. What are the values of the five indicators (the content of Chl-a, TN, TN and COD, SD) at the spot in August, September and October from 2011 to 2013? c. Does current outcome of surface water control satisfy the objective of the MRTB? If not, why? 3. How can the outcomes of water pollution control in Tail Lake be improved through the introduction of new policy measures inspired by the EU WFD policies on water pollution control and the policy framework provided by Helmer and Hespanol? a. Are there any differences in regulations on water pollution control between the MRTB and the EU-WFD? If so, could some of the regulations included in the EU-WFD be helpful in addressing some of the observed problems in Tai Lake? b. How can the MRTB regulations on water pollution control be improved? 1.6 Research methodology After some preliminary explorations, I have identified and chosen a research design which employs five different sets of methods, which are literature research, survey research, field observation, stakeholder interviews and data of water sample analysis, in order to collect the data I need based on my questions above and to be able to triangulate some findings. Prior to my field visits, I performed a literature review from the official dossiers and relevant documents to study the process of eutrophication and situation of Tai Lake which principally shaped my research questions. During my stay in China, more specific literature was available, such as the annual water quality evaluation of Tai Lake from TBA. In addition, I got a book named ‘Tai Lake Water Conservation and Water Pollution Control in Wuxi’ published by China Water Power Press (2009), the Taihu Basin Water Environmental Governance Overall Program (2012) and the water quality target plan for the Taihu basin (2008 and 2012). All of these documents deepened my understanding of the actors and stakes in surface water pollution control in Tai Lake and the formulation of the MRTB. The findings have been integrated in the second chapter. However, my study was not only based on literature. I stayed in Shanghai, China from mid-August to the end of September. Firstly, I visited the headquarters of TBA, which is located in Shanghai. The objective was to explore the issues, stakes and strategies of water pollution control in Tai Lake from the governmental perspective, as well as arranging the following schedule. So, I held two interviews with two chiefs from the water policy department and water resource department, 8 respectively. Both of them were involved in the formulation of the MRTB and have contributed to water management in Tai Lake for decades. They helped me understand the policy making process and ‘rules of the game’ in water pollution control. Then, I used all the information I got during this stage to draft questionnaires and get ready for the next field visit. From early October to mid-November, I moved to Wuxi, on the northern shores of Tai Lake. In the beginning, I contacted my friends living in Wuxi and asked them to look for some interviewees, who lives or works along Tai Lake. Then, I had four conversations with the citizens in Wuxi and asked them the questions demonstrated on the questionnaire (Annex I). The questionnaires carried out by me generally took half an hour, with open answers and free dialogues being allowed. The residents were very cooperative to participate in the research. In the meantime, they helped me find out another six farmers farming in the fields near Tai Lake, who had more words to say. I spoke both with the youth and the old and both men and women (distributed evenly, half-half). After each conversation, I always categorized and collated the information. I found out that most of the interviewees thought Zhushan Lake to be the most seriously polluted sub-basin because of the great numbers of factories aligning it. Then, I visited the Taihu Basin Water Environment Monitoring Center in Wuxi to find out their perspective on the matter. In terms of the water quality data I got, water bloom proliferation in Zhushan Lake is mostly serious indeed (see Figure 11 and Table 6). Furthermore, an interview with a director of the water resources monitoring station made me select Zhushan Lake to be my research area to perform water sample collection and further analysis. On October 13th, I followed the water sample collectors from the monitoring center to collect water samples in Zhushan Lake at two planned measuring spots (see Figure 12), as well as measuring SD. During the water sample collection, I also took pictures of the water bloom proliferation on the surface water and asked the collectors about the extent of water bloom spread in the past. After returning to the monitoring station, I asked the Taihu Basin Water Environment Monitoring Center to measure the content of Chl-a, TN, TP, CODMn from these water samples. Several weeks later, I got the result of the water sample testing and other required data from the center’s database through some networking. Then, I spent half a month analyzing the data of water quality through applying the water algal bloom evaluation index system in order to know the change in water bloom proliferation in the last three years, the results of which are highlighted in the chapter 3. I made a third field visit from November 3rd to November 11th, and it was most carefully prepared, because I now knew what the actual effects and results of the MRTB were. In total, I visited two sewage plants and one local water board. On the first two days, I visited Taihuwan sewage plant, which is located in Xueyan town, Changzhou (see Figure 7), accompanied by Zhao Bing, a staff member from the local water board responsible for supervising sewage plants’ work. The sewage plant was not of a big scale, and it used not to be run well by the private enterprise. In 2012, the local government purchased the sewage plant and took over the management from a private enterprise. I had two interviews with the manager and clerk of the sewage plant by mainly asking the questions on the questionnaire (see ANNEX III), as well as about the changes the plant witnessed in the last three years. Then, I walked around the sewage plant and took photos of the facilities for recycling water with the introduction by the staff. On November 6th, I visited a much bigger sewage plant, Wunan sewage plant in Changzhou. I conducted five factory questionnaires with five clerks in the plant and one interview with the factory director (see ANNEX III). The questionnaires basically took half an hour and the interview took one hour with open questions. Afterwards, I visited the ecosystem zone around the sewage plant, where used the recycled water to 9 irrigate and fix nitrogen. The picture I took is Figure 16 as illustrated. The last few days in the field, I visited Yixing water board. Firstly, I had an interview with the chief of the water resource section, Zhang by asking the prepared questions (see ANNEX II). Then, I had a discussion with him about what I had observed and heard when visiting the sewage plants. Later, he showed me the two labs, which are regulated and managed by both local water board and farm bureau, testing ecological technologies on treating sediment and reuse of alga. The findings from the field visits mentioned above are mainly presented in Chapter 2 of my thesis. Finally, in terms of the problems in the MRTB in pollution control at the policy level, I used literature research to investigate whether the articles in the MRTB meet the standards of a good water pollution control policy or not, in other words, I used the policy framework provided by Helmer and Hespanol to identify the problems in the MRTB. Next, I exposed the issues that occur in the transaction and expression of the MRTB at policy level and issues in the implementation of the MRTB. Thereafter I used the articles and guidelines in the EU-WFD as a basis to give some recommendations to the MRTB in Chapter 4. The following table (Table 2) is an interview list, and also summarized the detailed field work. Date Name Job Place Contents of Interview 03-09-13 Ye Chief of water policy Shanghai Policy making process, department in TBA Strategies and stakes in the water pollution control in Tai Lake 04-09-13 Zhu Chief of water Shanghai ‘Rules of the game’, resources department Strategies and stakes in the water in TBA pollution control in Tai Lake 02-10-13 Liu and Wuxi citizens and Wuxi ANNEX I to 9 other farmers 09-10-13 people 10-10-13 Shen Director of water Wuxi ANNEX II, resources monitoring Surface water pollution sources station 13-10-13 Li Water sample Zhushan Water sample collection, 14-10-13 collectors Lake Discussion about water bloom in the past 03-11-13 Yang, Manager and clerk Taihuwan ANNEX III, 04-11-13 Liu of sewage plant Sewage Changes of the plant Plant Take photos 06-11-13 Liu and 5 Factory director and Wunan ANNEXIII, 07-11-13 other clerks Sewage Visit ecosystem zone, people Plant Take photos 11-11-13 Zhang Chief of Yixing Yixing ANNEX II, water board Discussion about what I observed and heard in the field, Visit two labs Table 2 Interview list and field schedule 10 1.7 Thesis Outline This thesis comprises five chapters: Chapter 1 explains the rationale of the research including introduction, background, problem statement, research objectives, concepts and theories, research questions and methodology. Chapter 2 assesses the differences in surface water pollution control of the MRTB between implementation and actual outcomes, by scrutinizing the policy actors, their stakes, strategies and resources and ascertaining the outcomes that result from the policy process. Chapter 3 shows the current surface water pollution status compared with the status in 2011. Chapter 4 discusses whether the MRTB is comprehensive and effective at policy level. In addition, I also compared my findings with the water pollution control in the Danube River in this chapter. Chapter 5 draws a conclusion, gives three recommendations to solve the issues observed in the MRTB and reflects on the methodological limitations experienced in this research. 11 2. Water pollution control regulated and implemented in Tai Lake This Chapter shows the implementation and regulation of the water bloom pollution control in Tai Lake. In order to find out the differences between planned execution and actual outcomes in the MRTB, the concept of policy domain (arena) is used. In the first subsection, the actors mentioned in the chapter of surface water pollution control in the MRTB are described. Moreover, a diagram including these actors is used to explain the relationships and networking among them. In addition, from my point of view, some actors excluded in the regulation will be listed. In the second subsection, the stakes, issues and negotiation in water pollution control in Tai Lake are discussed. Firstly, the stakes of enterprises, residents and government are analyzed. Next come the issues which emerged, and the three main issues identified by the government are given. The last part is about what people mostly discuss, negotiate, and struggle about. In the third subsection, actors are divided into three groups, enterprises, residents and the government, and they are categorized into several sub-groups. In terms of the governments at diverse levels, they promote a series of strategies to implement the water pollution control. On the other hand, some strategies promoted by the government that facilitate the evasion of water pollution measures either directly or indirectly are discussed. Furthermore, strategies applied by the rest of actors are listed, which help to evade the water pollution control. Finally, the paper addresses the ‘rules of the game’ through comparing Wuxi and Suzhou. In the fourth subsection, it is highlighted how water pollution control is shaped in time and space. In terms of the time, the process of legislation lasted 9 years since 2002, during which the legislation experienced plenty of modification. Moreover, the selection of areas of implementation (space) also yielded quite some struggle, especially with the Shanghai government reckoning that the economic development would be impacted extensively (in a negative fashion), if the whole city was covered by the MRTB. But this motion raised by Shanghai government was rejected by the State government because of the concept of integrated river basin management. Next comes a description of the interactions mainly taking place in 101 key functional water bodies and inlets and outlets of Tai Lake from 2007 to 2012. In the last subsection, I summarize the concrete results and effects regarding water pollution control around Zhushan Lake, where the most polluted source is in terms of Tai Lake. Firstly, according to the interviews with staff from a sewage plant in Xueyan Town, several new measures were promoted after the local government purchasing the plant from a private company in 2013. In addition, after the MRTB was issued, some new phenomenon and technologies associated with water pollution control occurred in Wuxi, which are displayed in the last part. 2.1 Actors included and excluded in water pollution control In terms of the MRTB, it has always been regarded as a regulation as well as a legislation for water management, but I also would like to say it can be regarded as a ‘social shaping of technology’ (Miller and Rose, 1992). A wide range of technologies are used, because the criteria of setting 12 indicators in the MRTB originate from many domains of science, like hydrology, biology, and chemistry. In the meantime, technologies are made by people, and the objectives and interests of people get involved, which influences the shape that technologies eventually become (Mollinga, 1993). So, it is obvious that the actors participating in water pollution control in Tai Lake own their different interests and stake. In order to explain the actors in a simple way, I am inclined to give an introduction on the process of setting the total volume of main pollutants discharge, which is composed of different actors, and a picture depicting all these actors is illustrated below (Figure 3). Firstly, Taihu Basin Authority (TBA) proposes an initiative plan about limiting the volume of total pollutants discharge with the technical help of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) and Taihu Water Conservation Bureau (TWCB). Secondly, TBA organizes the Department of Water Administration (DWA) under the government at provincial level to check and determine the pollutants holding capacity of lakes and rivers and submit the comment to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the government at provincial level. Thirdly, DEP takes water quality objectives, relevant requirements and comment into account to draw up the plans of reducing and controlling the total volume of main pollutants discharge. Fourthly, the plan shall be examined and approved by the DEP and the DWA under the China State Council (CSC) and be submitted the province governments for approval and announcement. Fifthly, the province governments will decompose the control index defined by the plans of reduce and control the total volume of main pollutants discharge to water body, and issue to each city and county within the Taihu basin. Afterwards, the local government of each city shall decompose further to the units of discharging pollutants for practical implementation. In the meantime, the local governments shall organize sewage plants and local departments of port administration and environment protection to support and monitor these units. The table below indicates the mandates of every governmental agency raised above and their means to achieve their aims. The table (Table 3) below indicates mandates and means of governmental agencies raised above. It can be seen that DWA and DEP at provincial level have some overlap in the mandates, like checking and determining the pollutants holding capacity of lakes and river courses. This is because these two departments have to set the limited pollutants from their own professional perspectives and negotiate to give the final exact value of total volume of pollutants. Moreover, there is no agricultural sector participating in the process of policy formulation and implementation, so I am convinced that the agricultural restriction is ignored. With regard to the stakeholders responsible for discharging pollutants, they are categorized into five groups located in different conservation areas, and I tend to categorize them into five groups. The first group comprises the factories located in the third-grade conservation area (whole area of the Taihu basin), such as those involved in paper making, tanning, alcohol, starch, metallurgy, brewing, printing and dyeing, electroplating, etc. The second group is composed of the chemical, medical and aquaculture industry, which lies in the second-grade conservation area (main river inlets toward the Taihu basin). The third group consists of storage and transportation facilities of highly toxic substances and dangerous chemicals, the wastes collection sites, dump sites, floating restaurants, golf courses, livestock and poultry farms in the first-grade conservation area (the shoreline of Tai Lake). With regard to the fourth group, it includes ships and boats navigating on the Taihu basin, all harbors, ports, loading and unloading stations and ship building plants in the Taihu basin in the first-grade conservation area. In addition, they shall accept the supervision by the local departments of port administration and environment protection. 13 A large amount of sewage originates from agriculture and domestic use farmers and residents in the Taihu basin, in other words, farmers and residents are in the last group. Figure 3 The process of setting the total volume of main pollutants discharge and the stakeholders involved in this Government Administrative Mandates in water Means to achieve aims agency level pollution control CAS National Technical help Calculate the limitations of total pollutants discharge socially and scientifically TBA Municipal Regulation, Submit the comment on limitations of total management and pollutants discharge to the DWA (State). intermediary Supervise and check the emits Intermediate the conflicts provincially TWCB County Technical help Measure the required the indicators about water quality DWA Provincial Check and determine Define special discharge limits of water the pollutants holding pollutants, and consulting with the provincial capacity of lakes and government river courses Make determination and announcement of the specific regions and time period on execution of special discharge limits of water pollutants 14 Check and determine the pollutants holding capacity of lakes and river courses in accordance with the requirements of water function zone for water quality and natural purification capability of water body, and submit the comment on limitations of total pollutants discharge to province government DEP Provincial Check and determine Draw up the plans to reduce and control the total the pollutants holding volume of main pollutants discharge capacity of lakes and river courses Draw up the control index for the total volume of other pollutants discharge in the region DWA State Review proposal and Examine and discuss the plans to reduce and legislate in the aspect control the total volume of main pollutants of water discharge administration DEP State Review proposal and Examine and discuss the plans to reduce and legislate in the aspect control the total volume of main pollutants of environmental discharge protection Provincial Provincial Decompose index of Decompose the control index defined by the plans government the volume of total to reduce and control the total volume of main pollutants and pollutants discharge to water body, and issue to supervise lower level each city and county within the Taihu basin government Local Municipal Decompose index of Decompose the control index further to the units government the volume of total of discharging pollutants for practical pollutants and implementation supervise lower level government DEP County Implement regulation Establish professional wrecking crew being and orders responsible for collecting green-blue algae Supervise the discharged pollutants DPA County Implement regulation Supervise all harbors, ports, loading and and orders unloading stations and ship building plants in the Taihu basin equipped with collecting devices for ship pollutants, rejected materials and necessary emergency facility for water pollution. Table 3 Mandates and means of governmental agencies Furthermore, I want to take a closer look at the actors excluded in the MRTB. From my literature review, the public participation is seldom raised in the MRTB, in other words, the whole process of making river basin management plans represents a ‘top-down’ approach. Compared with the 15 chapter of public participation in the EU-WFD, I am convinced that at least two actors are left out by the regulation. The first excluded actor is active people’s participation in water pollution control. Generally, there are three levels of participation, including consultation (low level), involvement in plan and implementation (medium level) and mutual and self-decisions (high level) (Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, 2000). In terms of the public participation in China, it is quite passive, in other words, the majority of people just read information and few of them do fight for their deserved rights. Hence, the level of people’s involvement in the water pollution control is even lower than the baseline and it even does not contribute to the water pollution control at all. The second actor excluded is considered to be the groups and organizations of interest, including small non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and enterprises. To some extent, within the MRTB they are considered to be ‘employees’, who just do what they are asked to do by their ‘employers’. Taking NGOs for example, their roles are supposed to publicize the process of planning, making and executing water management. Nowadays, there are indeed some environmental NGOs in China, such as Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPEA) and Natural Home (NH), but these NGOs are usually substituted with the government and its attached agencies and institutes. For some reason, the Chinese government has opted to go for a different way of monitoring policy processes, suppressing criticism by NGOs or civil society organizations. Moreover, I am inclined to say that agriculture sector is the third actor excluded in the water pollution control in Tai Lake. From the picture (Figure 3) shown above, I did not see the involvement from agricultural sector or agency. It is known that agricultural water can be recycled back to the surface and ground water, except for water loss due to evapotranspiration (Ongley, 1996). Therefore, poor agricultural practices may lead to the discharge of pollutants and sediment transferring to the water body. In the MRTB, it is rare to see the regulations about non-point sources control. 2.2 Stake, issues and debates 2.2.1 Stakes in the water pollution control As we all know, justice is a key issue in the management and regulation of water pollution. But what is justice in water pollution control? I would like to treat it as ‘allocate stakes evenly and sustainably’, such as distributing stake among different stakeholders properly, guaranteeing the basic rights, securing the use of the water resource for future generations, etc. In the water pollution control in Tai Lake, enterprises, residents and government are the predominant stakeholders, in other words, they share the stake. In the following, I am inclined to analyze the stake in water pollution control among these three categories of actors. Firstly, with regard to enterprises, they are the main polluters because of their effluents, and the emission can be categorized into two kinds, regular and hidden ones. In terms of the regular emission, factories can emit some volume of effluents depending on the quota decomposed from the government, but it is not strict enough to improve the deteriorated status in that the given volume of sewage has exceeded the capability of Tai Lake. Hence, it is obvious that factories will invest more in dealing with sewage if the criterion of emission is raised. While the local governments are not likely to promote the scheme above, which induces the industrial factories to increase their production costs, lighten their accountabilities of implementing water pollution control, and maximize their economic stakes. On the other hand, over a quarter of the factories in the Taihu basin were found out to emit the sewage secretly when checked according to a survey by TBA, 16 which means that the factories used hidden emission (Wang, 2012). It is seems that ‘polluters pay’ principle is a good approach to decrease polluters’ stake, and not to defer the environmental cost to a future generation. However, even though the factories are punished, it is still possible for them to earn a great amount of interest after handing in fine. For example, the cost of sewage treatment is about 1.5 yuan (1 euro=8.3 yuan) per ton, but the net stake can reach up to half million yuan through illegal emission. In addition, the highest cost of fine is only one million yuan according to environmental law in China. Consequently, the enterprises prefer to pay the fine, rather than paying for effluent treatment which is much more expensive. Next come the residents, who are the victims of failing water pollution control compared with the enterprises. Generally, there is no legal way for them to represent their stakes in water pollution control. Two following cases can be cited to substantiate my viewpoint: In the first case, the residents living on the boundary of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were organized initiatively to truncate the river by stones due to the seriously polluted water from upstream. In the other case, there were many quarry companies which led to serious dust pollution in Dongtiaoxi town, Yuhang since 1999. And a lot of people there suffering respiratory diseases was triggered by the serious dust pollution. So, a group of civilian environmentalists reported the issue to local DEP, but the phenomena still existed. In 2003, these people accused the DEP of Yuhang of ineffective monitoring on pollution control in Dongtiaoxi town, but the court ruled that the plaintiff did not have a direct stake in the pollution, in other words, the civilian environmentalists were not qualified to be the plaintiff (Wang, 2012). In conclusion, the two cases above indicate that the legal recourse is weakly developed to non-existent, except in case of being a directly affected entity in China, in particular with the lack of public interest litigation and court proceedings often not subject to public scrutiny. The last stakeholder, government, is the most critical one in water pollution control. Given that water is a public product, the government is supposed to be responsible for providing and protecting it sustainably. When the enterprises contaminate the water and negatively impact on residents’ stakes in order to achieve maximum economic stake, it is essential for the government to provide for relevant policy and effective means of protecting the public interest. As shown in the book named ‘Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management’ (Sterner, 2003), there are two kinds of environmental policy instruments, one of them is called command and control (CAC). It means that the policy should emphasize the regulated maximum volume of sewage and force the polluting factories to apply waste water treatment technologies. Moreover, the other policy instrument is market based instrument, which also ought to be developed, such as imposition of pollution taxes and introduction of tradable pollution permits. Hence, this kind of instrument tends to guide the decision making of enterprises through a market signal (or incentive), but not rule people through imposing the exact volume of pollutants. To some extent, it is a failure when the government intervenes in the water pollution control in Tai Lake. Although the government has already applied relevant policy instruments, the outcome is not satisfactory. Some examples can indicate how water pollution control is failed at the expense of the public interests. Firstly, it is resulted in a situation where the direct agency attached to the state government, TBA, only has the right to supervise, but not the right to punish the polluting agents. Secondly, some local governments permit the polluting factories to emit effluents illegally, because they take more care about the GDP performance and their promotions. In addition, several local governments take the initiative to introduce environmental pollution enterprise into the local to pursue GDP at the cost of 17 local environment. Therefore, all of these cases indicate these local governments do not play their accorded roles in protecting the public stake at all, but become the protector of business interests. Fortunately, the State government started to emphasize and implement a green national accounting (green GDP) exercise to publicize the extent to which environment-related costs of economic activity reduce actual GDP, and to promote a more comprehensive and realistic accounting of economic development and of GDP growth (Li, 2009). 2.2.2 Issues and causes in water pollution control From the analysis of stakes above, it is evident that local governments and enterprises capture most of the stakes and that the residents are quite passive when it comes to their stake. From the viewpoint of the Chinese regime, the government is the main body responsible for taking care of the stakes. The reason why this imbalance in the articulation and taking care of stakes has arisen perhaps may be found in governmental public regulation. In the following, I am inclined to present three main issues that negatively influence the pursuit of effective policy in water pollution control in Tai Lake. The first issue is the GDP performance evaluation model, which is what local governments care about most. At the beginning of 1980s, there was an economic planning management transfer, from the state government to local governments (Wang, 2012). After the scheme, local public expenditure is directly linked to their revenue, so local governments need to increase revenue to expand their public spending. Simultaneously, the tax of enterprises is a critical resource for local governments to increase their revenue. The polluting enterprises are the major taxpayers, as well as offering opportunities for the jobless people. Hence, local governments maintain a close relationship with these enterprises because of the direct economic and social benefits these generate. Furthermore, there is the interesting phenomenon that the illegal emissions are not hidden away, but rather take place in open day light for all to see (Wenhui news, 2007). The department of environment protection (DEP) attached to the local government is very clear about who pollutes the water. The reason why DEP does not penalize the polluters is because DEP is manipulated by its own local government. Currently, this mode of economic development is still very prevalent and extensive in China. Under the GDP performance evaluation model, the public officials take GDP and economic increase as the first consideration in order to determine who gets promoted. In Tai Lake, it is obvious that the political rationality of local governments is concentrated on the core of generating rapid growth in GDP, at the expense of their willingness to monitor and penalize water pollution. This renders their management logic as atypically short term logic, maximizing short term gain at the expense of long term ruin (Wenhui news, 2007). Moreover, the polluting factories do not only connive with the local governments through the creation of economic growth and jobs, but they also engage in illicit transactions with the staff inside these local governments. For example, in the environmental engineering project bidding process, the polluting factories may engage in instances of economic corruption with the governmental officials in order to decrease the weight accorded to the criterion of engineering to save cost. So, the environmental projects do not achieve the desired results at last (Fu, 2006). A second issue concerns the lack of administrative authority. The local government plays a major role in managing and monitoring the water pollution control, but they fail to shoulder the responsibilities due to the GDP performance evaluation model which has been analyzed above. Hence, the accountabilities fall on the shoulders of the TBA, which is led by both the Ministry of Water Administration and the Environmental Protection Departments. At present, TBA is the only inter-provincial agency and its most important function is to manage and conserve the river basin. However, it is ironic that TBA lacks the administrative authority to supervise and control the 18 emission of pollutants, which is the most critical power in sustainable water conservation. Taking one issue for example, TBA does not own the right and authority to punish the polluting behaviors, but has to inform the local government, which makes it hard for TBA to maintain and coordinate the public stake. To sum up, water pollution control has been devolved to the administrative districts respectively, and hence is not applied at the appropriate level namely the river basin. Hence, the stake of districts, departments and individual plays a much bigger role in the water pollution control in the river basin. The last issue is insufficient and inefficient investment in water conservation. So far, the investment in upgrade of water treatment plants is sourced from government funds. Generally speaking, the environmental protection investments in developed countries take up at least 1.5% of the local GDP (Wu, 2007). In reality, the investment in China just reaches up to a mere 1% at the beginning of the 21st century (Wang, 2012). Nowadays, the State government is focused on investment in environmental protection and appropriated 1,400 billion yuan (1 euro = 8.3 yuan) from 2006 to 2010, which accounted for 1.5% of GDP in China. In spite of the increase in the investment, the outcome is still not very satisfactory, resulting from inefficiencies in expenditure. Taking a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) for example, nearly 3.6 billion yuan was diverted for other purposes and false over-payments in many water pollution control projects. In addition, some relevant projects resemble ‘window dressing’, such as building magnificent outlook for sewage plants and establishing concreted river banks, which are burning money. In conclusion, the supervision and transparency of usage of funds is a severe issue in the water pollution control. This can mainly be attributed to the top-down nature of the regime’s governance and the lack of possibilities to complain and report on problems experienced by either implementing agencies or actually affected stakeholders.. 2.2.3 Debates on the failure of water pollution control Taking the above analysis of stakes and issues occurring in water pollution control in Tai Lake, I wish to describe some possible remedies addressing these issues and implementation failures. What people frequently talk about is how to guarantee their basic rights to participate in monitoring water pollution control. Firstly, with regard to the aspect of legitimacy, they are convinced that civilian environmental rights should be included in the Chinese Constitution, so they can be protected by the law. Apart from the possession of judicial remedies and officially recognized avenues for recourse, the governmental department responsible for supervision ought to disclose information on the sewage permits and regulated process to the public gradually so that people can maintain their rights by using the information supplied above. In addition, people can contribute to promoting public stake litigation to monitor the polluters. On the other hand, although the polluters maybe get the penalty and submit fine, they still can realize huge economic interests through illegal dumping of effluents. There are always some arguments about the height of fine, especially between the workers in the polluting factories and residents suffering the pollution. Some people working for the polluting factories are scared to lose jobs if the factories suffer a great deficit because of the increased fine, while the rest of people reckon that as soon as polluters are requested to pay high fines, they will be frightened and cease producing. It is known that the government represents the interest of society and is the carrier of social justice. What people are struggling about is that the government just pursues the increase of GDP, but ignores the environment conservation. The GDP performance evaluation model is the primary reason for this state of affairs, so the State government is also struggling about how to assess officials’ performance comprehensively, by adding assessment criteria on environmental and social status. 19 2.3 Rules of the game 2.3.1 Strategies for implementing and evading water pollution control There is an old saying, ‘Every coin has two sides.’ As far as I am concerned, it also applies to the implementation of water pollution control in Tai Lake. Different actors may employ their resources and strategies to implement water pollution control, but they also evade it, although sometimes they do not do so on purpose. In terms of the analysis of the stakes above, I am still inclined to divide actors into three groups, government, enterprises and residents (Figure 4). In addition, the government consists of State, provincial, and local governments and their respective attached departments. Next come enterprises, including those operating in industry, agriculture and marine. The last group, residents, is made up of farmers and citizens. Figure 4 Actors’ categorization Government strategies that contribute to decreased pollution In terms of the governments at diverse levels, they are really tasked with implementing the water pollution control, so they promote a series of strategies as outlined below (Wang, 2009): Set water function areas for water bodies in Tai Lake (State government) In order to meet the development and utilization of water resources, the Ministry of Water Resources, with the support of the State Council, set diverse water quality standards depending on the water functions through promoting a two-class system. With regard to the first class district, it is divided into three districts, which are conserved, buffer and developing districts (detailed explanation in Chapter 2.4.2, page 28). This setting was aimed to adjust the relationship between water resource development and utilization at a macro-level. In addition to the second class district, the developing district is subdivided into seven water consuming zones, such as drinking water zone, industrial water zone and agricultural water zone. It was aimed to coordinate the water demands among different water consuming sectors (People’s News, 2012). Strengthen the supervision and forecast on the water body in Tai Lake (Province government) Firstly, Jiangsu province government established a rigorous monitoring network through satellite remote sensing, auxiliary manual sampling and meteorological observations. In addition, the distribution of automatic monitoring stations which focused on the water quality in the main rivers and cross sections were expanded. For instance, all the sewage plants and key polluting enterprises have installed on-line monitoring devices, and these devices were linked with the environmental 20 protection department attached to the province government. Thirdly, during the outbreak of water bloom, monitoring frequency will be encrypted and analysis and forecast will be timely released through various medias (Jiangsu News, 2008). Expand the scale of sewage plants and increase the ratio of sewage pipe connection (Local government) In accordance with my interview and observation in Changzhou, I found out that many small private sewage plants were purchased by the water board attached to the local government in the last four years. The local government expanded the scale of sewage plants through fixing and switching previous broken facilities, purchasing more advanced equipment (sludge dewatering machines and dosing machines) and enlarging inlets and outlets. Moreover, more sewage pipes were built in order to collect more domestic and industrial wastewater. During the interview with Zhang, a chief in Yixing water board, I was informed that the ratio of sewage pipe connection had reached up to around 90% in Yixing. Government strategies that contribute to increased pollution On the other hand, some strategies promoted by the government also evade the water pollution directly or indirectly, leading to intensified pollution levels. The following are some examples of mechanisms and drivers that result in increased pollution and ineffective pollution control: GDP performance evaluation model (State government) Local governments have a close relationship with polluting enterprises because of the direct economic benefits that are created by polluting enterprises; The supervision on pollution by DEP has proven to be ineffective partly because DEP is manipulated by its local government. Inter-province conflicts (Province government) Wastewater that has been released without treatment in an upstream Province produces serious impact on the downstream Province. Since the onus of pollution control lies at provincial level, this kind of inter-provincial pollution problems are bound to last, whereby upstream provinces have no incentive to tackle the problems, unless forced to do so by the central government. Transfer pollution (Local government) Encourage severely polluting factories to transfer to other districts in order to avoid the blame from senior government. For example, after the outbreak of water bloom in Wuxi, Jiangsu in 2007, a great number of pollution factories were forced to shut down by Wuxi government. However, some of them were found to be rebuilt in the north of Jiangsu province, where is not in the Taihu basin few months later (Xinjing News, 2008). Enterprise strategies that lead to increased pollution With regard to another group, enterprises, even though they are forced to implement water pollution control, some of them still attempt to adopt some strategies to cut down on their production costs and gain comparable economic interest at the expense of increased pollution levels. Some examples of these kind of strategies applied by enterprises are given below: 21 Cheating on the pollution check and supervision (Industry) Temporary suspension of production to decrease pollutant concentrations during spot checks; starting the sewage treatment system (that is usually not operating) whenever the spot checks take place; putting all raw materials with pollution issues in the warehouse; putting quicklime into the rivers nearby for neutralization; constructing dams in the upstream end of the river, pumping pollutants out of the river, depleting sludge and injecting fresh water into the river; purchasing hundreds of kilos of fish fry and getting them into the river just before site survey; employing several old men to pretend fishing along the river (Wenhui news, 2007). Increased pesticide use in farming (Agriculture) Although the area of arable (farming) land decreases gradually, the amount of pesticides is kept stable and even increases, which is the result of undeveloped farming approaches and the low popularity of ecological farming. Intensive aquaculture in large water area (Aquaculture) Fishermen prefer to pour great amount of feedstuff into the large water area, and the spare feedstuff and fishes’ excreta enter into the water or substrate sludge, which strengthens the process of water eutrophication (Wang 2009). Pollution due to waste dumping practices from ships (Shipping- business) Some sailors often discharge sewage or pollutants to the water directly when sailing, including the dumping of domestic garbage, dripping oil and rubbish from washing boats. Strategies applied by residents that lead to increased pollution The last group to be considered as potential polluters are the residents, including citizens and farmers. To be honest, domestic sewage is unavoidable, but it can be cut down through changing some small habits. The followings are some ‘strategies’ (habits) compound the problem of water pollution control: Widespread use of detergents containing phosphor (Residents) Currently, the content of phosphor in detergents is about 5%, and the average amount of detergents people use annually is around 3.3 kg per person, and the population in the Taihu basin is more than 36 million (Wang, 2009). Even though all the sewage is treated, most of the phosphor will still enter into the water body at the existence of phosphate. Hence, it is obvious how serious the eutrophication is. Garbage piled along the river (Residents) About one-third of the domestic garbage in the rural areas in the Taihu basin is piled along the river, and it is easy to release dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphor into the water body. In addition, it just takes one year for them to release all the nutrients. In conclusion, strategies promoted by the government seem quite comprehensive and obligatory, but some strategies and practices from other actors result in massive evasion of the water pollution control. 22 2.3.2 Tied interests that result in differences in pollution levels From my point of view, I would like to say ‘only tied interests work’ to explain the problem of water pollution. In this case a three-fold tied interest provides the basic conundrum of the rules of the game. In terms of the interests raised above, they are revolving around the issue of society, geography, and economy. In the following, a comparison of water pollution control in Wuxi and Suzhou is cited to explain the rules. With regard to the two cities, they are located along Tai Lake and they are natural neighbors in Jiangsu province (Figure 5). In addition, the scale and development of these two cities are similar, and the basic information from Wuxi and Suzhou government website is given as below in 2012 (Table 4). Figure 5 Map of the Taihu basin City Area (km2) Water Area Population GDP (billion (km2) (million) yuan) Wuxi 4787.61 1277.1 6.77 780 Suzhou 8488.42 3609.4 10.46 1211 Table 4 Basic information about Wuxi and Suzhou in 2012 However, the water bloom proliferation in Wuxi is much more severe than it in Suzhou. As far as I am concerned, it is triggered by three interests that are tied. At first, it is social interest tied. Wuxi gets its water for domestic and industrial use from both Tai Lake and the Yangtze River, so they have two choices. But for Suzhou its sole choice is Tai Lake. Hence, their priorities with regard to water quality in Tai Lake are completely different. The interests of all actors in Suzhou are tied together with Tai Lake, but for people in Wuxi, they have an alternative choice at their disposal. Moreover, the second tied interest is a geographical one. In the past five years, polluting factories in an increasing number were moving out of Wuxi, while the status of water quality did not become better. It can be attributed to the geographical position of Wuxi, because most of the factories chose to move to Changzhou, which is located upstream of Wuxi. In the case of Suzhou, no seriously polluting cities lie upstream of it. Finally, an economic interest is tied into the conundrum. I am 23 inclined to have a closer look at the key industries in Wuxi and Suzhou. Wuxi is famous for its light industry and textile industry, and Suzhou is well-known for its information technology and machinery manufacturing. Comparatively, the key industry in Wuxi has a much more serious influence on the water quality. Furthermore, the key industry is tied with GDP so that Wuxi government loses interest in imposing effective forms of water pollution control. To sum up, the three different kinds of interests are tied and result in the basic ‘rules of the game’ that set the stage for (in)effective water pollution control. 2.4 Shape of interaction around water pollution control 2.4.1 Water pollution control shaped in time and space As introduced in the background, Tai Lake has met serious water pollution levels because of the rapid economic development since the 1990s. During the last decade of the 20th century, people in the Taihu basin experienced a ‘water crisis’, which means their drinking water resources were threatened by the water pollutants. Hence, The State government was determined to regulate water pollution control. From 2002 to 2011, a law focused on water pollution control in Tai Lake was promoted, which was called the Management Regulations of the Taihu Basin (the MRTB). In the following, I will have a look how the MRTB was shaped in time and space. With regard to the time, the process of legislation lasted 9 years. Since 2002, TBA started to carry out preliminary research and drafting legislation. It mobilized experts and professionals in the field to study hot spots which experienced serious contamination, in order to have extensive research and discussion, and then TBA together with the political science division attached to the Ministry of Water Resources proposed the bill based on the advice and suggestions from the experts. After the water crisis, an outbreak of water bloom leading to drinking water scarcity, in Wuxi in 2007, the State government endorsed and implemented ‘Surface Water Pollution Control Law’ at a nationwide level, which is a guideline for controlling water pollution in all water bodies. In the meantime, the Ministry of Water Resources, together with the Ministry of Environment Protection, formulated the draft of the MRTB, but the contents of draft were involved with multiple departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, so it was not agreed completely. In 2008, the Ministry of Water Resources was approved by the State council to modify the previous draft alone, and after repeated negotiation with provincial governments about rights’ allocation, the new draft of the MRTB was sent to the State government. In 2010, the MRTB was listed to be one of the legislation schemes. Then, the State government solicited suggestions and comments from 28 relevant departments and 10 local governments extensively. Based on the reconsideration and research on the spatial limits of water pollution control , the third draft of the MRTB was sent to the State government in May, 2011. Finally, the MRTB was endorsed for implementation from November 1st, 2011 (Wang, 2011). Furthermore, in terms of the spatial limits of water pollution control, it was contested a lot. In the process of legislation, Shanghai government had proposed that the rest of Shanghai apart from the Qingpu area did not influence Tai Lake a lot, and if the whole of Shanghai was covered by the MRTB, the economic development would be negatively impacted extensively (Wang, 2011). However, the State government did not agree with this proposal because of two reasons. Firstly, integrated river basin management is the core of the MRTB, so river regulation should be a top priority. Because the Taihu basin is a plain river network area, the issue of water pollution is paramount, in other words, water flow brings pollutants everywhere. Secondly, the MRTB does not only contain water pollution control regulations, but also flood control, water 24 shoreline protection, water resource conservation, drinking water safety, etc. As long as the whole river basin is covered by the MRTB, the river basin can be regulated. To sum up, it took such a long time to shape the regulation mainly focused on water pollution control in time and space due to the complex networking around different, and often conflicting stakes. 2.4.2 Interaction in time and space Because the MRTB was issued on November 1st, 2011, it has been in force less than two years now. In this part, I would like to study where interactions took place through the data comparison for 2010, 2011 and 2012. Firstly, I am convinced that water pollution control worked in 101 key functional water bodies. These areas consists of the access routes to Tai Lake and provincial boundary water bodies in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In terms of the official annual water quality report (2012) by TBA, the diagram (Figure 6) below illustrates the achievement ratio of water quality levels in these 101 districts from 2007 to 2012 (TBA, 2012). These districts are divided into three classifications, which are conserved, buffer and developing district. The followings explain the classification and what it entails: Conserved district: It is pointed at the water area where has great significance for water conservation, protection of natural ecosystems and rare and endangered species. Water quality objective ranges from Class I to Class II or keeps the current quality status. Buffer district: It is pointed at the water area where coordinates water conflicts inter-provincially. The water quality objective can be determined in accordance with the actual requirements or keep the current water quality status. Developing district: It is pointed at the water area where has to meet the the industrial and agricultural production, domestic living, fisheries, recreation and other functional requirements. Water quality objective ranges from Class II to Class III or keeps the current quality status. From the bar chart below, it can be seen that the ratio in developing district had a stable increase, which was from about 23% (2007) to a bit less than 60% (2012). In addition, in the conserved and buffer districts, there were some fluctuations during these 6 years. With regard to the conservation districts, it was always at peak among all the districts, although there was a sharp decrease in 2009. However, it exceeded 80% in both 2011 and 2012. Next comes to the buffer district, it was always at the bottom, ranging from 10% to 21%. To sum up, the average compliance rate in these districts has an increasing trend, and it reached up to more than 40% in 2012. Secondly, I reckon that the interaction also took place in the inlets and outlets of Tai Lake. The following table (Table 5) indicates the amount of pollutants in these regions during the period of 2010, 2011 and 2012 (TBA, 2012). It was evident that all of the indicators in 2012 decreased, compared with those in 2010. In conclusion, I think in the period of these past three years, no great interaction has taken place, maybe resulting from that different actors were still adapting the new water pollution control. 25 Figure 6 The achievement ratio of water quality in the 101 districts CODMn NH3-N TP TN Volume of water Regions Year Unit: ×105 t ×108 m3 2010 6.478 1.829 0.28 5.644 118.8 Inlets 2011 5.826 1.552 0.25 4.77 108.8 2012 6.006 1.466 0.204 4.807 111.1 2010 4.930 0.200 0.068 2.544 110.0 Outlets 2011 4.189 0.099 0.051 1.399 95.0 2012 3.943 0.097 0.057 1.258 93.1 Table 5 The content of pollutants in the inlets and outlets of Tai Lake (TBA, 2012) 2.5 Results and effects In order to assess what the outcome of the interaction is, I chose two sewage plants and one water board for a field visit. On the first day, I visited Taihuwan sewage plant, which is located in Xueyan town, Changzhou. As shown in the map below, it is just around 10 km away from Zhushan Lake (Figure 7). In terms of Zhushan Lake, it is a sub-basin of Tai Lake, and it is the most polluted water body in Tai Lake (more detailed information will be provided in the next chapter 3.1) The scale of this sewage plant is not very big, it manages to dispose 7500 ton per day of waste water. But actually, there is not so much sewage entering into the plant: only one third of the designed capacity is utilised. What makes me interested most is that all of the treated wastewater is eventually emitted into Zhushan Lake through the Yapu river. After the announcement of the MRTB, I found out some interaction happened in this sewage plant. The local government purchased the sewage plant and took over the management from a private enterprise. Previously, the plant had been established and regulated through a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model, which means that the government allowed the private sector to raise funds to build infrastructure and operate and maintain its corresponding products and services for a given period of time. In other words, the private enterprise took a share of the profits with the government during the operation and maintenance of the facility after building it. The private enterprise could receive a fixed amount of money from the 26 government every month, so it was obvious that the private enterprise was interested in cutting down the costs of building and running the sewage plant. A staff from local water board, Yang, complained about the inefficient and ineffective management of the previous sewage plant. “Actually, the private enterprise did not have the relevant qualification and techniques to manage and regulate the sewage plant, while they just gave money to a qualified professor and asked him to apply for the BOT project. When we took over the plant, we found out many pipes leaked and quite a lot of wastewater treating facilities are ill-formed. Basically, the emission from the sewage plant could not satisfy the national 1-A standard since 2008.” However, some concrete results and effects regarding water pollution control were obtained in Xueyan town after 2011. Firstly, all of the sewage inlets were checked and fixed after local government bought the plant in 2013. During the interview, Yang mentioned that 70% of the polluting factories’ discharge and domestic sewage emission are channeled to the sewage plant now and the local government will invest in expanding the capacity of the current sewage plant and improving the treatment techniques in order to make emission meet national 1-A standard without considering cost. Secondly, I reckon that the monitoring is more informative and automatic. There was a small room standing beside the sewage emission point and a board was stuck to the wall as shown in the picture (Figure 8). According to the introduction by Yang, it is an automatic monitoring room which supervises the indicators of treated wastewater day and night and gives feedback to the monitoring headquarter every hour, in other words, there is an automatic measuring device setting in the outlets of the sewage plant. If the content of the main indicators, such as TP, TN and CODMn, exceed the standard, the alert will be sent to the leaders’ mobile phones from the department of environmental protection. In addition, only staff from department of environmental protection has access to the room, and they come to check the monitoring spot twice every month. To sum up, after the MRTB came into force, the local government has paid more attention and spends more expenses on the wastewater treatment in Xueyan town. On the map (Figure 7) above, there can be seen a city, Yixing, which is the prefecture-level city of Wuxi, located on the west side of Zhushan Lake. When I had interviews with several residents in Wuxi, most of them referred to Yixing as the most seriously polluted source to Tai Lake in Wuxi due to the prevalence of chemical industry there. Taking this into account, I went to visit Wuxi water board to know what interactions took place in the wake of the passing of the MRTB regulations in Yixing after 2011. The interviewee was the chief of the water resource section, Zhang, who was quite proud of the state of water pollution control in 2013 because ‘the ratio of sewage pipe connections has reached up to around 90% in Yixing’ (Yixing Waterboard, 11-11-13). Moreover, he mentioned four concrete results in the field of water pollution control achieved after the issue of the MRTB: 27 Figure 7 The location of Xueyan Town Figure 8 Automatic monitoring room and Yixing “Automatic Monitoring Room Pollution Source: No. 063 Supervision Unit: Wujing Environmental Protection Bureau Running Unit: Taihuwan Sewage Plant” Adjust the industrial structure to pursue ‘Green GDP’ growth The government contributed to developing service sectors in order to ascend the share of the third industry. In addition, it has set up another three sewage plants in Yixing since 2006. In the meantime, the capability of treating wastewater has been raised from 120,000 m3/d to 300,000 m3/d since 2006 (Wang, 2009). In an interview with Zhang(chief of the water resource section, Yixing Waterboard, 11-11-13), I was informed that over 2,00 factories (around 400 factories totally) in different scales in Yixing have been forced to close since 2011 in that their sewage could not meet the national sewage standard. And only when pre-treated, the sewage from the rest of factories is permitted to enter into the sewage plants, which improves the efficiency of treating wastewater in the plants. The reason why this drastic action happens in Yixing is that this city has been a focal point after the water crisis in 2007. Diminish the endogenous pollution load with help of biological means Because Tai Lake is a submersible lake, the sediment in the lake gathers various kinds of nutrient substances together. According to the calculation by TBA, the percentage of CODMn, TP, and TN saved in the river basin accounted for around 50% of the all the pollutants from 2001 to 2003 (Wang, 2009). In the last three years, Wuxi water board attached to the local government mainly promoted two new ecological technologies to treat sediment in Zhushan Lake, highlighted below: a. In-Situ bioremediation: Promote certain engineering measures in the original contaminated sites, such as putting degrading bacteria, nutrients or biological degradation of surfactant into the water to degrade organic pollutants, cure mud surface, inhibit the proliferation and migration of contaminants, reduce pollution levels and form a biochemical barrier layer. 28 b. Ex-Situ bioremediation: Remove the pollutants into the a reactor or to other places to use engineering measurements to dredge and treat sediment affected by chemical pollutants . By applying the technologies mentioned above, a sharp decrease in pollutants was achieved in the north Tai Lake, comprising about 40% of the total organic pollutants in 2012. Transfer water ecologically and increase the environmental capacity After the water crisis in Wuxi in 2007, the professionals from Nanjing Hydraulic Institute found out Tai Lake was always ‘static’ or stagnant, which means the water flow there was not big enough to take pollutants away (Wang, 2010). Currently, there are six water transferring routes being used or about to be used, just as the following picture (Figure 9) illustrates, and the scheme is mainly financed by Jiangsu Province, together with the State government. In terms of Yixing, the route which benefits the area is called ‘Xinmeng River Transfer Route’. The project gets water from Yangtze River, makes the water flow to Ge Lake through Xinmeng River, and finally enables the water to enter into Zhushan Lake through the Taige Canal. Thanks to a great amount of clean water flowing into Zhushan Lake, the environmental capacity to deal with waste water and the resilience and resulting quality of the water resource are expanded and supplemented directly. Moreover, the content of N, P and NH3-N experienced an obvious decrease, as a result of the water transfer. Figure 9 Water transferring routes in the Taihu basin Innovative use of algae People used to burn the algae when they were salvaged at the beginning of 21st century. However, the combustion may produce air pollution, because every ton of dry alga contains 6.8 kg P, 67 kg N and 440 kg C on average (Wang, 2009). In the last three years, the government encouraged and invested in research on the re-use of salvaged algae. For example, a project focused on biogas generation regards algae as the source of energy. This project is assisted by cooperation with an 29 official institute and a private enterprise (Wang, 2009). Nowadays, the biogas generation plant has put into use, which consumes alga to the tune of 15-20 t/d and produces 300-500 m3/d of methane gas. 2.6 Conclusions In conclusion, after the enforcement of the MTRB, the government took part in water pollution control more actively, especially in Wuxi which suffered from a serious water pollution crisis in 2007. However, when I interviewed the residents in Wuxi, most of them told me they never participated in any public events or training about water resources conservation and only a few of them knew about the existence of the MRTB. Consequently, as far as I am concerned, the public should be motivated to know and participate in the water pollution control, in a manner that is more comprehensive than ‘saving water’. In the following, I conclude the main issues I highlighted in this chapter: Lack of stakeholders’ involvement, including the public, NGO, and individual or group or organization with interest. Imbalance between GDP performance and water pollution control according to governmentally set priorities. Lack of administrative authority to effectuate both supervision and penalties of water pollution control. Insufficient and inefficient investment in water conservation and purification. Lack of restriction on people’s behavior, such as piled garbage and widespread use of detergent containing phosphor. 30 3. Degree of water bloom proliferation in Zhushan Lake In this chapter, I will first of all explain why I choose Tai Lake in Wuxi to be my research area. Next, I will present my findings from the interviews with people from the public, water board and factories. Then, I will analyze the variation of the six water quality indicators from 2007 to 2013, according to the water samples collected from the targeted spots in October and the required data in August and September. This will provide the data that can be seen as the outcome of water pollution control in Tai Lake, which is the topic of the next sub-chapter. The last (concluding) section will discuss whether the current outcome of surface water control in Tai Lake in Wuxi is satisfactory with regard to the previously stated objective, and explain the reason why it succeeded or failed. 3.1 Research area- Zhushan Lake, Wuxi Wuxi is an old city, located in southern Jiangsu province, China. Split in half by Tai Lake, Wuxi borders Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east (Figure 6). The northern half looks across to Taizhou across the Yangtze River, while the southern half also borders the province of Zhejiang to the south (TBA, 2011). Basically, the Taihu basin is divided into nine sub-basins, including Zhushan Lake, Meiliang Lake, Wuli Lake, Gong Lake, Western coastwise zone, Eastern coastwise zone, Southern coastwise zone, East Tai Lake and Limnetic zone. Among them, the first four sub-basins are in the administrative region of Wuxi, The following picture (Figure 10) demonstrates the distribution of nine sub-basins. Figure 10 Nine sub-basins in the Taihu basin Compared with the rest of the Taihu basin, Zhushan Lake suffers from a more severe water pollution problem, especially water algal bloom. The followings can be cited to figure it out. Firstly, as shown in the diagrams (Figure 11) below, it is obvious all of the indicators are always the highest in Zhushan Lake in 2012 (TBA, 2012). In addition, according to the interview with a managing director of the water resources monitoring station in the Taihu basin, about 30%-40% of the pollutants originate from the sewage outlets around Zhushan Lake. Next comes to the extent of water algal bloom, this issue disturbs the whole river basin. The table (Table 6) below illustrates the density of water bloom in the nine sub-basins (TBA, 2012). However, even though the area of Zhushan Lake is just the second smallest water body (68.3 km2) among nine sub-basins, the extent of eutrophication is the most serious one in that the density of water algae can reach up to 4090×10,000/L and 17793×10,000/L in summer and autumn respectively, which are the highest among all the sub-basins. 31 Figure 11 The categorization of water quality of the sub-basins in 2012 (TBA, 2012) Table 6 The density of water bloom in the sub-basins Unit: ×10,000/L To sum up, I decided to select Zhushan Lake to be my research area to perform water sample collection and further analysis, because it is the most polluted area in the whole of Tai Lake. Next, I will explain why Zhushan Lake suffers from serious water bloom issues. As stated in the part 2.3.2, I treated the phenomenon of ‘tied interests’ which determine the ‘rules of the game’. As far as I am concerned, the water pollution in Zhushan Lake is also trigger by these interests. Firstly, I would say the geographical factor increases the water pollution level experienced in Zhushan Lake. As can be seen in the picture (Figure 5), there is a big city, Changzhou located about 60 km away from Zhushan Lake in the northwestern direction. The population of Changzhou is about 3,608,000 and over 30% of the wastewater is discharged into Zhushan Lake through open pipes. Besides, I want to demonstrate how the social and economic interests deteriorate the water quality. Yixing, a prefecture-level city of Wuxi lies along the west side of Zhushan Lake, which is famous for its petrochemical industry. The area of Yixing is only about 2,038 km2, but the number of chemical factories is over 40 according to my rough search on the internet. So, it is clear that both of the economic growth and jobs offered depend on these polluting factories. In other words, the local government frequently faces the dilemma of choices that either favor the environment or the economy. Consequently, I can conclude that the three interests determine the degree of water pollution in Zhushan Lake. 3.2 Eutrophication evaluation on Zhushan Lake In order to assess the degree of water bloom proliferation in Zhushan Lake, I will apply the Eutrophication Evaluation Method to value it, as was explained in Part 1.4.2 (Page 5). This assessment addresses a value (1-100) to measure the level of eutrophication by testing the content of Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphor (TP), Permanganate index (CODMn), 32 and Secchi Disk Depth (SD) in the water sample. Next, I will have a closer look at the variation in values over the time. From the introduction by the tester in the Taihu Basin Water Environment Monitoring Center, water samples were collected once at marked spots in Tai Lake at the beginning of every month. Whereas the indication of a water sample in one month has contingency, I am inclined to choose three months (a season) to be targeted months and take average values to evaluate indicators. With regard to the selection of targeted months and years, I chose August, September and October from 2007 to 2013. The reasons can be cited as follows. Firstly, as demonstrated in the table above (Table 6), the biggest density of water bloom in Zhushan Lake occurred in autumn, which was 17793×10,000/L. And the autumn in Wuxi just contains September and October. As for August, it always experiences the highest temperature, which may induce the explosive growth of water bloom, so I take it into consideration as well. In addition, the water crisis occurred in 2007 and the enforcement of the MRTB started in November, 2011, so I choose the past three years as my study period. By doing so I can establish how effective the MRTB is through data comparison in these seven years. In terms of the water sample collection spots, because the past samples were always collected in two spots (J12# Zhushan Lake and B22# Longtou) indicated in red on the map (Figure 12) below by the monitoring station, I still choose these two spots in order to keep the oneness of data. Figure 12 Measuring spots in Tai Lake Due to the intensive schedule, I did not measure the indicators by myself, but collecting the water sample and asking the tester in the Taihu Basin Water Environment Monitoring Center to measure the content of Chl-a, TN, TP, CODMn in October in 2013. Moreover, I manage to retrieve other required data from the center’s database. The following tables contain the eutrophication evaluation on Zhushan Lake from 2007 to 2013. 33 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2007) Extent of Date Temperature Chl-a(mg/m3) Place TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan Aug-07 30.5 137.00 0.263 3.39 9.14 Lake 41.00 Aug-07 30.4 B22#Longtou 260.00 0.350 2.63 10.60 39.00 Aug-07 30.5 Average in Aug 198.50 80.89 0.31 0 72.66 3.01 72.53 9.87 68.05 40.01 69.99 66.01 J12#Zhushan Sep-07 25.9 50.40 0.144 3.26 6.68 39.00 Lake Sep-07 25.8 B22#Longtou 72.00 0.207 3.38 9.98 37.00 Sep-07 25.9 Average in Sep 61.20 68.63 0.180 67.29 3.32 73.30 8.33 63.30 38.01 71.99 68.54 J12#Zhushan Oct-07 20.8 21.00 0.097 3.72 4.61 25.00 Lake Oct-07 20.9 B22#Longtou 15.60 0.110 3.15 6.87 25.00 Oct-07 20.9 Average in Oct 18.30 55.19 0.10 60.20 3.44 73.59 5.74 54.35 25.00 85.00 77.00 Average in 3 Average T 25.7 92.67 68.23 0.20 66.72 3.26 73.14 7.98 61.90 34.34 75.66 70.52 months Table 7 Eutrophication evaluation in 2007 34 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2008) Extent of Date Temperature Chl-a(mg/m3) Place TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan 32.2 39.40 0.213 3.55 10.30 37.00 Aug-08 Lake Aug-08 30.8 B22#Longtou 83.20 0.179 3.15 10.30 32.00 Aug-08 31.5 Average in Aug 61.30 67.76 0.200 69.11 3.35 73.38 10.30 70.20 34.50 75.50 71.19 J12#Zhushan 27.5 39.00 0.090 2.32 4.90 55.00 Sep-08 Lake Sep-08 26.9 B22#Longtou 286.00 0.342 6.06 17.30 21 Sep-08 27.2 Average in Sep 162.50 74.34 0.220 65.78 4.19 75.50 11.09 63.52 38.00 74.00 70.63 J12#Zhushan 21.8 44.90 0.089 2.73 4.06 34.00 Oct-08 Lake Oct-08 21.4 B22#Longtou 18.10 0.085 2.19 4.77 29.00 Oct-08 21.6 Average in Oct 31.50 60.02 0.090 57.40 2.46 71.15 4.42 51.04 31.50 78.50 63.62 Average in 3 Average T 26.8 85.10 67.37 0.17 64.10 3.33 73.34 8.60 61.59 34.67 76.00 68.48 months Table 8 Eutrophication evaluation in 2008 35 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2009) Extent of Date Temperature Chl-a(mg/m3) Place TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan 27.1 35.90 0.228 3.25 4.58 28.00 Aug-09 Lake Aug-09 27.4 B22#Longtou 37.30 0.072 2.67 4.42 32.00 Aug-09 27.3 Average in Aug 36.60 62.79 0.150 2.96 72.40 4.50 51.25 30.00 80.00 65.80 Sep-09 28.5 B22#Longtou 58.70 0.127 1.62 6.81 21.00 J12#Zhushan 28.9 108.00 0.187 2.09 7.28 37.00 Sep-09 Lake Sep-09 28.7 Average in Sep 83.35 71.59 0.160 65.70 1.86 68.21 7.05 57.61 29.00 81.00 68.82 J12#Zhushan 22.3 39.20 0.164 3.44 5.06 36.00 Oct-09 Lake Oct-09 22.2 B22#Longtou 81.20 0.108 2.21 5.85 29.00 Oct-09 22.3 Average in Oct 60.20 67.31 0.140 63.60 2.83 72.06 5.46 53.64 32.50 77.50 64.42 Average in 3 Average T 26.1 48.97 67.23 0.15 63.95 2.55 70.89 5.67 54.17 30.50 79.50 66.35 months Table 9 Eutrophication evaluation in 2009 36 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2010) Extent of Date Temperature Chl-a(mg/m3) Place TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan 90.8 0.262 7.35 Aug-10 32.5 Lake 2.44 38.00 Aug-10 32.6 B22#Longtou 146.00 0.252 2.36 6.89 39.00 Aug-10 32.6 Average in Aug 118.40 75.67 0.260 71.43 2.40 71.00 7.12 57.80 38.50 71.50 69.48 J12#Zhushan 69.90 0.142 6.02 Sep-10 30.1 Lake 2.76 43.00 Sep-10 30.1 B22#Longtou 105.00 0.208 1.90 8.76 38.00 Sep-10 30.1 Average in Sep 87.45 72.44 0.18 67.20 2.33 70.45 7.39 59.43 40.50 69.50 67.80 J12#Zhushan 40.60 0.075 4.84 Oct-10 22.5 Lake 2.48 41.00 Oct-10 22.9 B22#Longtou 45.80 0.089 2.22 4.77 39.00 Oct-10 22.7 Average in Oct 43.20 64.53 0.080 56.40 2.35 70.88 4.81 52.01 40.00 70.00 62.76 Average in 3 Average T 28.5 83.02 70.88 0.17 65.01 2.36 70.78 6.44 56.41 39.67 70.33 66.68 months Table 10 Eutrophication evaluation in 2010 37 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2011) Extent of Date Temperature 3 Place Chl-a(mg/m ) TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan Aug-11 29.5 93.90 0.120 3.93 7.27 37.00 Lake Aug-11 29.5 B22#Longtou 40.80 0.038 1.80 4.14 32.00 Aug-11 29.5 Average in Aug 67.62 70.38 0.080 55.99 2.88 72.19 5.72 54.30 34.53 75.47 64.11 J12#Zhushan Sep-11 27.6 31.80 0.108 3.52 4.99 39.00 Lake Sep-11 27.7 B22#Longtou 12.80 0.132 2.18 4.37 38.00 Sep-11 27.7 Average in Sep 22.40 57.75 0.120 61.99 2.86 72.14 4.68 51.71 38.51 71.49 62.81 J12#Zhushan Oct-11 22.2 74.70 0.115 2.94 7.19 37.00 Lake Oct-11 21.5 B22#Longtou 64.00 0.090 2.32 6.49 38.00 Oct-11 21.9 Average in Oct 69.40 70.56 0.103 60.26 2.63 71.58 6.84 57.11 37.51 72.49 66.63 Average in 3 Average T 26.4 53.14 66.23 0.10 59.41 2.79 71.97 5.75 54.37 36.85 73.15 64.52 months Table 11 Eutrophication evaluation in 2011 38 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2012) Extent of Date Temperature 3 Place Chl-a(mg/m ) TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan Aug-12 28.7 35.00 Lake 24.60 0.261 2.14 5.66 Aug-12 29.4 B22#Longtou 57.20 0.218 1.87 6.50 32.00 Aug-12 29.1 Average in Aug 40.73 63.88 0.240 70.99 2.01 70.02 6.08 55.19 33.50 76.50 74.12 J12#Zhushan Sep-12 26.5 76.90 0.244 1.87 8.69 47.00 Lake Sep-12 26.7 B22#Longtou 48.20 0.191 2.71 7.21 31.00 Sep-12 26.6 Average in Sep 62.70 69.66 0.218 70.44 2.29 70.71 7.96 59.89 39.00 71.00 68.70 J12#Zhushan Oct-12 22.1 118.00 0.240 2.73 10.60 45.00 Lake Oct-12 22.1 B22#Longtou 405.00 0.286 2.73 16.80 27.00 Oct-12 22.1 Average in Oct 260.03 84.17 0.263 71.57 2.73 71.83 13.67 72.45 36.00 74.00 63.47 Average in 3 Average T 25.9 121.15 72.57 0.24 71.00 2.34 70.85 9.23 62.51 36.17 73.83 68.76 months Table 12 Eutrophication evaluation in 2012 39 Eutrophication Evaluation Method (2013) Extent of Date Temperature 3 Place Chl-a(mg/m ) TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) CODMn(mg/l) SD(cm) water bloom (℃) Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Depth Value Value J12#Zhushan Aug-13 30.1 182 0.448 1.68 11.5 38.00 Lake Aug-13 30.4 B22#Longtou 81.0 0.276 1.20 8.08 40.00 Aug-13 30.3 Average in Aug 132.02 77.09 0.363 74.07 1.44 64.42 9.81 69.04 38.99 71.01 72.68 J12#Zhushan Sep-13 26.5 126 0.297 2.41 8.82 39.00 Lake Sep-13 26.6 B22#Longtou 109 0.380 2.49 9.30 40.00 Sep-13 26.6 Average in Sep 117.59 75.58 0.338 73.45 2.45 71.12 9.06 65.29 39.49 70.51 71.39 J12#Zhushan Oct-13 23.3 7.1 0.153 2.74 4.98 43.00 Lake Oct-13 23.3 B22#Longtou 15.7 0.138 0.63 6.97 40.00 Oct-13 23.3 Average in Oct 11.36 50.85 0.146 64.56 3.08 72.71 5.96 54.91 41.52 68.48 62.08 Average in 3 Average T 26.7 86.99 67.84 0.28 70.69 2.33 69.42 8.28 63.08 40.00 70.00 68.72 months Table 13 Eutrophication evaluation in 2013 40 Extent of Year(Average value Chl-a TP TN CODMn SD water bloom of Aug, Sep and Oct) (Value) (Value) (Value) (Value) (Value) (Value) 2007 68.23 66.72 73.14 61.90 75.66 70.52 2008 67.37 64.10 73.34 61.59 76.00 68.48 2009 67.23 63.95 70.89 54.17 79.50 66.35 2010 70.88 65.01 70.78 56.41 70.33 66.68 2011 66.23 59.41 71.97 54.37 73.15 64.52 2012 72.57 71.00 70.85 62.51 73.83 68.76 2013 67.84 70.69 69.42 63.08 70.00 68.72 Table 14 Average value variation in Zhushan Lake in August, September and October from 2007 to 2013 Figure 13 Variation of indicators from 2007 to 2013 From the table (Table 14) above, I can know the variation of eutrophication in these seven years through analyzing the six indicators above as the line chart illustrated (Figure 13). Moreover, the objective of the analysis is mainly to know the current proliferation of water bloom and whether the water pollution control proves effective in controlling water bloom proliferation or not. As the line chart illustrated above highlights, although TP and CODMN witnessed a decrease from 2007 to 2011, it showed a rebounding trend in the last two years. And both of their peak values occurred in the last two years, which were 71.00 (TP) and 63.08 (CODMN) respectively. With regard to TN, these seven years display a declining trend and its minimum value was 69.42 in 2013. Compared with the declining tendency of TN, SD experienced a sharper decrease, which plunged from 79.50 to 70.00. In terms of Chl-a, it had a light fluctuation from 2007 to 2013, and it often stayed around 67. Consequently, regarding the extent of eutrophication, it decreased in the first five years, but it ascended afterwards, although the value in 2013 was lower the peak value in 2007. 41 In order to know more information, I also checked the relevant material about the variation of these six indicators. And I found out the content of TP and CODMn bounced intensively in Zhushan Lake in 2012 as the line chart below shown (Figure 14). Figure 14 The variation of TP and CODMn from 2005 to 2012 yearly Consequently, I am convinced that the extent of eutrophication fluctuated lightly in the autumn in recent years, but TP and CODMn do not show a declining tendency. In addition, the targeted months I chose constitute the most serious occasions in terms of water bloom proliferation. Hence, the analysis cannot indicate the extent of water bloom in the whole year. The reason behind the increasing content of TP and CODMn will be discussed in the next part. 3.3 Expected objective and actual outcome The ‘Taihu Basin Water Environmental Governance Overall Program (2010)’ mentions the water quality objectives (Table 15) in terms of the whole Tai Lake (page 12, translation from Chinese by myself), but does not address relevant objectives regarding Zhushan Lake and other sub-lakes. “As from 2015, the content of CODMn should meet Standard III (<6.00 mg/L); NH3-N should stand at Standard II (<0.50 mg/L); the content of TP should decrease by 17.9% compared to 2010; the content of TN should decrease by 17.8 % compared to 2010; the extent of eutrophication should at least reach up to the level of light Eutropher. As from 2020, the content of CODMn and NH3-N should meet Standard II (<4.00 mg/L and <0.45 mg/L); TP should stand at Standard III (<0.05 mg/L) and decrease with 16.7% compared to 2015; the content of TN should meet Standard V (<2.0 mg/L) and decrease by 9.1% compared to 2015. The first table (Table 9) below illustrates the water quality objective in Tai Lake, and the second table (Table 10) shows the expected contents of Zhushan Lake.” 42 Extent of water Year TP TN NH3-N CODMn bloom (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) Value (Base year)2010 0.07 2.68 0.36 4.40 61.5 2013 0.07 2.00 0.46 4.50 61.0 (Recent Goal)2015 <0.06 <2.20 <0.50 <6.00 50-60 (Long-term Goal)2020 <0.05 <2.00 <0.45 <4.00 50-60 Table 15 Water quality objectives in Tai Lake Extent NH3-N(mg/l) TP(mg/l) TN(mg/l) COD (mg/l) of water Year Mn bloom Content Value Content Value Content Value Content Value Value 2013 0.46 - 0.07 54.00 2.00 70.00 4.50 51.00 61 2013(8,9,10) 0.18 - 0.28 70.69 2.79 71.97 8.28 63.08 68.72 Table 16 The comparison of actual outcome and objective Although the objective is set for the entire Tai Lake, I still attempt to compare it with the water quality in Zhushan Lake in order to see which indicators are most seriously at risk of not meeting the target. Firstly, it can be seen from the table (Table 16) that the content of NH3-N is much lower than the targeted content. The reason for this is that the peak value of NH3-N usually occurs in February and March just as the line chart (Figure 15) below shows (TBA, 2012). The status of TN is similar, its peak value occurs in March-April. Despite that TN concentration exceeds the average objective of Tai Lake, but it is still lower than the targeted content in Zhushan Lake in 2015 and 2020. Consequently, I think the current content of NH3-N and TN are in the control. Figure 15 The concentration change of NH3-N and TN from 2007 to 2012 (TBA, 2012) Next come the TP and CODMn concentrations. They are much higher than the average value of the objective (0.07mg/L and 4.50mg/L). And as described in Part 3.2 (page 45), there was a sharp increase in terms of both TP and CODMn in Zhushan Lake in 2012. So, I am convinced that the content of TP and CODMn are not managed to meet the objectives in the future. Generally speaking, the source of phosphor and permanganate discharged in surface water if formed by domestic sewage, chemical sewage and agricultural production. It was mentioned in Part 2.5 (page 32) that the ratio of sewage pipe connection has reached up to around 90% in Yixing, Wuxi. Hence, I reckon 43 that the high concentrations of TP and CODMn are caused by the agriculture practiced alongside the Lake. The area of farming land around Zhushan Lake is about 340 km2 in extent and only a few plots are farmed in an ecologically sustainable way (Wang, 2009). In China, there are more than 120 kinds of pesticides used, and the amount of pesticides used in agriculture ranks as the second worldwide. (Wang, 2009) The pesticides mainly comprise organochlorine pesticides, organophosphorus pesticides, and carbamate pesticides. These pesticides are difficult to degrade and display a high degree of hydrophobicity, so they are able to stay in the environment for a long time and increase in concentration through the food chain. They are regarded as the most persistent pollutants in the aquatic environment. Furthermore, only 10% of the used pesticide sticks on the crops, and the rest falls into the soil, air and water. Meanwhile, the used fertilizer also consists of a great amount of phosphor and permanganate (Wang, 2012). For example, the amount of P2O5 in the fertilizer is quite high, which contains 150-300 kg/hm2 per year. What makes it worse is that most of the water with high concentrations of phosphor and permanganate flows into Zhunshan Lake through surface runoff, like tertiary, secondary and main canals, without any form of treatment. What compounds matters is that the government does not attach importance to the restriction of the use of pesticides and fertilizer, which can be seen from the MRTB in the sense that only Article 31 is involved with the control of agricultural contamination. To sum up, the widespread use of pesticides and fertilizer and ignorance of their restriction induces the high concentrations of TP and CODMn in Zhushan Lake in the recent years. In addition, there are two more indicators, Chl-a and SD affecting the eutrophication, which have not been set at any targeted concentration and depth. When I had the interview with Zhang (Head of TBA), I was informed that the targeted concentrations mainly pointed at limiting the substances in the pollutants, but Chl-a and SD were not included in the pollutants, so there was no unique objective for these two indicators. However, I still attempted to analyze these two factors in that they demonstrate a close relationship with the extent of water bloom. As said in a report written by Wang, his ridge regression analysis showed that the Chl-a content increased with increasing TN concentration, TP concentration and N/P, when the favorable water body’s ratio of nitrogen vs phosphorus for algae growth in Tai Lake (between 10 and 25) occurred (Wang, 2011). The following table (Table 17) shows the value of N/P and the concentration of TP, TN and Chl-a from 2011 to 2013. Although the Chl-a concentration in 2013 was higher than it in 2011, the ratio of N/P in 2013 was much lower than it in 2011, in other words, the surrounding conditions for algae growth is much worse, which is a good sign. Consequently, I argue that the control of Chl-a is determined by the control of TP and TN concentrations. Generally speaking, because of the better control of TN and worse control of TP, Chl-a has been fluctuating in these three years. With regard to the last indicator SD, the main factors that influence it are sun height, suspended matter and plankton, so the result of SD witnesses various contingencies. However, it can be seen from Table 14 that the water depth measured in 2013 is the most transparent one. Hence, I am convinced that SD is better than before. Year TP TN N/P Chl-a mg/l mg/l mg/l 2011 0.10 2.79 27.90 66.23 2012 0.24 2.34 9.75 72.57 2013 0.28 2.33 8.32 67.84 Table 17 The ratio of N/P and TP, TN and Chl-a concentration from 2011 to 2013 44 3.4 Conclusion To summarize: The density of water algae in Zhushan Lake can reach up to 4090×10,000/L and 17793×10,000/L in summer and autumn respectively. The extent of eutrophication fluctuated lightly in the autumn in recent years, but TP and CODMn do not show a declining tendency and these two indicators have not been managed to meet the objective in the future. This is the result of following causes, listed below: a. The government does not attach importance to the restriction of the use of pesticides and fertilizer b. The widespread use of pesticides and fertilizer and ignorance on their restrictions. On those occasions when the Lake suffers from the most serious water bloom proliferation, the control of TN, NH3 and SD gets better, but it is the reverse for TP and CODMn, and the impact of Chl-a does not change a lot. I reckon that we can be hopeful for the eutrophication to become less severe in future with the targeted value of 65 in 2015 being attainable, if the government can act better in the field of agriculture (fertilizer and pesticides control). Because the eutrophication value in August, September and October in Zhushan Lake in 2013 was 68.72 (highest among all seasons), which is close to 65. 45 4. Discussion In this chapter a discussion of the main issues emanating from this study will be presented, whereafter recommendations will be made. In the first section, there is a discussion on the policy issues that affected the MRTB. The ten guiding principles proposed by Helmer and Hespanhol are applied to analyze the principles and practice of the MRTB. In the meantime, a short narrative interpretation of each principle is given. The second section presents an example of the Danube catchment. It starts with a brief introduction of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and the structure of ICPDR. Then, from a literature research, I found out four practical measures on reducing eutrophication and strengthening nutrients management, including precision farming, ‘Best Agricultural Practice’ (BAP) projects, alternative technologies for wastewater treatment and use of phosphate-free detergents. 4.1 Discussion of issues at policy level It is well known that a comprehensive and developed policy framework can be regarded as a key element in the sound management of water resources. In other words, it is necessary for a policy document to be formulated clearly and concisely, as well as in a manner that allows it to become operational (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). In this section, I will discuss the issues that emanate from the MRTB at policy level, especially regarding water pollution control. As demonstrated in Part 1.4.3 (Page 7), there are ten guiding principles addressed in ‘Water Pollution Control - A Guide to the Use of Water Quality Management Principles’, which can be useful to evaluate the MRTB in the water pollution control. However, these guidelines are normative and in fact only make sense when specified for a particular context. The following is the simple interpretation of each guiding principle and the evaluation of the MRTB in terms of these principles (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997): Prevent pollution rather than treat symptoms of pollution. It is indicated from the past experience that remedial actions are much more expensive than preventing pollution from occurring in rivers and catchments. The principle suggests that the water pollution control should optimize on sewage minimization and waste products recycling more than traditional end of pipe treatments (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). In addition, with regard to the diffuse sources, or non-point pollution sources, such as the widespread use of fertilizer and pesticides in agriculture, a principle called ‘best environmental practice’ was proposed. For instance, farmers can be guided to have a good agricultural practice, by applying a certain type and amount at a certain time of fertilizers, manure and pesticides more properly and scientifically. In the fourth chapter of the MRTB, the regulation has prohibited a series of actions and constructions to take place within a radius of 5,000 m around the shoreline of Tai Lake, such as building chemical industry and medicine production projects, enlarging the aquaculture scale and expanding pollutants discharge outlets (MRTB, 2011). Moreover, according to my interviews, the factories in Yixing are forced to treat their sewage before emitting their affluent to the sewage plants in order to meet the basic standards set by the Department of Environmental Protection. In 46 addition, when I visited the sewage plant, I discovered that it had also established an ecosystem zone, and that the water in the zone originates from the sewage plant outlets directly. From the picture (Figure 16) below, one can even detect some fishes in the stream. The reason why it succeed in Yixing is that the city was the source of water pollution leading to water crisis in Tai Lake in 2007, so the government at different levels strengthened management and supervision on the water pollution control in Yixing. On the other hand, regarding the agricultural restrictions, I do not think the regulation works effective enough, perhaps because the government does not focus on it. It can be clearly seen from the articles in the MRTB, that there is no specific guideline or arrangement for farmers to follow, which allows for the ascending trend for TP and CODMn concentrations in Tai Lake. Hence one can conclude that the regulation has comprehensive and concrete promotions and strategies in place to prevent water pollution from industrial and domestic use, but it has so far been ineffective in imposing scientifically appropriate and ecologically sound agricultural practices. Figure 16 The water in the ecosystem zone around a sewage plant Use the precautionary principle Since recently, a majority of the substances can be released to the environment, except that some substances have been scientifically proven to bear a clear link with some environmental pollution issues. Hence, the policy documentation ought to clarify the exact nature of damaging substances, like a number of pesticides which may be harmful for the surface and ground water. What is more, the potential damage could be avoided by taking some decisive precautionary actions, like abandoning the use of potential hazardous substances, even though no research has absolutely proven the pollution damage of all substances yet. Because it takes a long time to establish a causal link between the substance and well-defined environmental impact, and great damage perhaps have already taken place before the necessary document provided (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). In 2008, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection has set the effluent discharge standards in the Taihu basin for eleven kinds of industry, including paper making, tanning, alcohol, and heterocyclic pesticide. For example, a restriction on the hazardous substances called ‘Heterocyclic Pesticides and Industrial Water Pollutant Discharge Standard’ was issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2008, and it is the first published standard which does not only provide the conventional pollutant control project (such as COD, pH and SS), but also features the additional pollutants to control those high toxicity, environmental impact of pollutants. Moreover, the water discharge standards raised in the MRTB are based on the standards set in 2008. So, I reckon that the regulation does well in setting the precautionary principle, and also connects itself with the previous standards. 47 Apply the polluter-pays-principle Although, water is widely recognized as a public and free commodity, the polluter-pays-principle is managed to stimulate and encourage action and behavior that may put less stress on the environment (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). Economic instruments like setting financial charges and taxes are supposed to be quite effective. However, some social or economic implication may restrict the principle. Meanwhile, some subsides for removing and treating wastewater may exist as well in many developing countries due to a series of social reasons. In fact, the sewage treatment fee has been introduced in the 1990s in the Taihu basin. It has been raised twice in this period, and the current charge is 1.3-1.5 yuan (1 euro=8.3 yuan) per ton of wastewater. This economic instrument stimulates the construction and market of sewage plants, in other words, a great amount of money is invested in this industry. In the Taihu basin region in Jiangsu Province in 2008, 169 sewage plants had been established, which could dispose waste water to the tune of 3.65 million ton per day (China Environmental Network, 2008). On the other hand, while the charge always depends on the amount of the sewage, it does not differentiate the concentration and biodegradability of the sewage. As far as I am concerned, different standards of charge should be imposed on diverse qualities of waste water. For example, the paper making industrial sewage contains more un-degradable COD than domestic sewage. Naturally, it should pay more charge in terms of the higher pollutant concentration. Apply realistic standards and regulations The regulation should consider both feasibility and enforcement. In addition, the regulation is supposed to be tailored to match the level of economic and administrative capacity and capability (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). Gradually, with the progress achieved, the criterion should be tightened and iterative. The MRTB took nine years to be formulated, and most of the actors who had a stake in the matter had been considered. From the interviews and observations I made, I could deduct that the factories obeyed the limitations and restrictions of sewage emission depending on the regulation. Despite the fact that the government knows that some economic stake may be lost, it still tends to have sustainable development as its aim. The establishment of TBA is in itself good evidence showing that the governmental agency is capable of implementing and monitoring the regulation. In addition, the targeted concentrations set by TBA seem to be iterative and are part of a long-term plan. However, the implementation is not usually as expected as the regulation. For example, the prevalent concentrations of TP and CODMn make it hard to meet the objectives set in the future. It seems that the objectives on these two indicators are too optimistic. Balance economic and regulatory instruments Both economic and regulatory approaches have their own upsides and downsides. The advantages of the regulatory instrument could be its rational predictability regarding water pollution control in that it can set the exact targets through appropriate authorities. In addition, the disadvantage of a regulatory instrument is just the upside of the economic one, which means the economic approach can provide incentives to change polluters’ behaviour, especially combating nonpoint sources of pollution (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). 48 In terms of the Taihu basin, the government applies a mixture of economic and regulatory instruments for water pollution control. Firstly, it has set up TBA to be the official and authoritative institute to regulate and manage the affairs in this region, and TBA tries to attain the environmental goal and relevant promotions and strategies through issuing the MRTB. Moreover, economic instruments like setting charges for polluters and subsidizing the relocating factories are also used. However, according to my interviews, the polluting charge is not very high, because some factories of paper making and tanning industries may still obtain great comparable interest after charging. In short, it pays to pollute. Hence, it is better to separate the professions and set distinct charging fees so the latter are commensurate with the profits otherwise made. Apply water pollution control at the lowest appropriate level Basically, the management levels can be classified as several levels, including local community level, municipal level, provincial level, state level and international level. In terms of sphere of influence, higher administrative levels should enable lower levels to carry out decentralized management (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). Whether the level is appropriate depends on the actual capacity of decentralizing and getting the functions on water pollution control. In the MRTB, responsibilities and authorities of each administrative level are described in detail. With regard to the level lower than the province, the management transfer and decentralization seem to be unique and capable, because the sphere of influence is not very big and it is easier for the low-level government or institute to make their own decisions. But in fact, sometimes the environmental impact may affect two or more provinces, and it is hard for TBA, which is at municipal administrative level to be the intermediary among these provincial governments. I reckon that TBA is supposed to be at a higher administrative level (provincial level) and led by a direct ministry, because now TBA has to follow the instructions from both Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Environmental Protection, and sometimes it is hard for TBA to meet mutual requirements in the meantime. Establish mechanisms for cross-sectoral integration Water pollution control is a business for not only the water sector, but also for the related ones, like environment, agriculture and so on. I prefer to treat the issue of water pollution to be a kind of boundary work, which should be subject to cooperation by experts and professionals from different domains. Thus, a permanent committee with representatives from the involved sectors could be established (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). For example, decision makers other than those from water sector are also allowed to comment and suggest plans from their professional perspectives. During the formulation of the MRTB, the national government took experts and professionals to the field wherever the water was seriously contaminated, to have extensive research and organize a discussion, which then resulted in the proposed draft of the regulation. Meanwhile, national water quality criteria and standards were supportive to formulate the regulation. After the endorsement of the regulation, the water administrative department is mainly responsible for managing and regulating the watershed, and the environmental protection department shoulders the responsibilities of monitoring and charging the polluters. On the other hand, no other professional sectors participate in the management of the river basin. That is why the regulation does not do well in the field of agriculture, such as restricting the non-source pollution and improving farmers’ 49 agricultural practice. I am convinced that the regulation is not cross-sectoral enough to be effective because of the few involvement of agricultural sections. Encourage a participatory approach with involvement of all relevant stakeholders. Participatory approaches are able of raising the public awareness of water pollution control. The approaches including interviews, observations, hearings and site visiting, can give the public chances to articulate their view, knowledge and priorities (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). In addition, during the transition of policy, other than the groups of experts and professionals, stakeholders involved social, political, historical, cultural and other factors should also be included in the process. Even though public participation takes time, it converges the views of all stakeholders on water pollution control measures and may help to secure their support for the final result. Because of the top-down policy formulation process, only experts and professionals took part in the articulation and implementation of the MRTB most of the time in China. As can be seen in the MRTB, few words are involved with ‘people’, ‘public’ and ‘civilian’. Moreover, according to my interview with residents in Wuxi, none of them has ever participated in the consultation of any policy, and they were just asked to join the public campaigns about saving water and controlling water pollution. Thus, I do not think the MRTB can meet this guiding principle. Give open access to information on water pollution This principle is linked with the principle above, because open access to information is a precondition for the public to understand, discuss and suggest measures for controlling water pollution. In some developing countries, environmental information is forbidden for the public, which is also harmful for the international cooperation (Helmer and Hespanhol, 1997). When I checked the TBA official website, it illustrates quite a lot text messages about water information, such as administrative licensing, policies, construction applications, etc. In addition, I also found out some technical information about water quality, but most it concerned outdated information. Moreover, I want to mention that it is quite tough to achieve the exact substance concentrations in the the Taihu basin, as highlighted through the data I demonstrated in the last chapter. In fact, the government has indeed opened the access of information on water pollution, while it is not very detailed and crucial. Next comes the public, they do not have strong willingness to get the information, but prefer to know the results and promotions ordered by the government. For sure, it is also resulted from the not active public participation and there is no expressed need of the public to get access to information. Promote international co-operation on water pollution control In terms of large rivers or lakes, they are often affected by trans-boundary water pollution, so international cooperation on the water pollution control should be strengthened by the riparian states. Hence, the core of international cooperation is to enable the states to have a wide agreement on objectives, strategies and measurements. Here, I would like to substitute ‘international cooperation’ for ‘inter-provincial cooperation’ in the 50 Taihu basin. To be honest, the conflicts among Provinces are much easier to be resolved than among States, because eventually the State can negotiate among Provinces. Due to the issue of the MRTB, the Provinces have set the same legislation to regulate and manage the water pollution control in this region. It is also mentioned in the regulation how to solve water conflicts inter-provincially. I maintain that the regulation does well following this principle. To sum up, if we apply the ten guiding principles above, I can see five issues are at odds within the MRTB at policy level: Lack of agricultural restrictions, scientific agricultural practice and agricultural sector’s participation. Lack of public participation and consultation in the process of formulating policy. It is hard for TBA, an institution operating at municipal level, to resolve problems inter-provincially. Little accurate, specific and updated information about water pollution and water pollution control is available for the public. Water prices and penalties are not commensurate with the industrial value of continued pollution. 4.2 The EU-WFD- example of the Danube catchment In 1994, the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) was signed into law among fifteen countries in Europe. In 1998, in order to clarify the obligations of the States parties, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) was established. When the EU-WFD was issued in 2000, all contracting countries agreed to implement the Directive throughout the whole basin, ICPDR is the biggest river basin management agency in Europe, whose main objective is to enable involved countries to achieve sustainable water management. The chair of ICPDR is alternately occupied by the heads of delegations of member states. The structure of the ICPDR is shown in the picture (Figure 17) shown below. In total, there is one Permanent Secretariat supervised by an Executive Secretary, one particular areas of expertise group and seven expert groups, which are the River Basin Management Expert Group (RBM-EG), Monitoring and Assessment Expert Group (MandA-EG), Pressure and Measures Expert Group (PandM-EG), Flood Protection Expert (FP-EG),Information Management and Geographical Information System Expert Group (IMandGIS-EG), Public Participation Expert Group (PP-EG), and Accident Prevention/Control Expert Group (APC-EG) (ICPDR official website). ICPDR expert groups under specific functions cover all aspects of river basin management, combine pollution prevention and the protection of aquatic ecosystems organically. The expert groups carry out their duties and cooperate, which provides the multiplier effect on the water pollution control in the basin. Consequently, the group setting of the ICPDR seems to be very comprehensive in that the expert groups are involved with every water field and their responsibilities and obligations are clarified in detail. 51 Figure 17 The structure of ICPDR In this section, I will have a closer look at what practical measures have been introduced to reduce the eutrophication in the Danube catchment. In terms of the policy perspective from the ICPDR, the basic principles for controlling eutrophication are ‘keeping the nutrients on the land’ and ‘keeping the nutrients away from any waterborne transport’ (ICPDR, 1999, Page 18). These principles are aimed to limit the phototrophic productivity in the water. In the following section, I want to highlight four practical measures that were considered to decrease nutrient discharge in the Danube catchment: Precision farming A device (N-Tester) was introduced to be spread in Austria since 2002. By choosing 30 leaves in the field, this hand-held device is able to measure the chlorophyll content (a key indicator of nitrogen) in the plant in several minutes and gives an optimum amount of fertilizer needed for the crops (Danube Watch, 2009). This method not only enables farmers to optimize their crop production, but also prevents excessive nutrients from being discharged into the run-off. However, this project met some troubles as well due to the cost of the device. So, the agricultural agencies purchased some devices and permitted farmers to borrow them and some N-Tester owners also joined together to share the devices (Danube Watch, 2009). ‘Best Agricultural Practice’ (BAP) projects In order to meet the steps of the EU-WFD process, some Danube Regional Projects were promoted in the past decade. For example, in the county of Vojvodina, north Serbia, the great amount of manure produced by the livestock herds used to be a big issue. Apart from the bad odor and sight, another problem was that manure led to serious nutrient pollution because of farmers’ ‘bad practices’, such as using water hoses to flush manure out from their livestock sheds (Danube Watch, 2007). In 2006, 15 BAP projects were approached by a company named Carl Bro and funded by the ICPDR, such as building a facility which was able to store 180m3 of manure for half a year. In the end, it was found out these BAPs were quite helpful to reduce the eutrophication, in other words, 14,000 kg of nitrogen, 2,000 kg of phosphorus and 250 kg of pesticides were saved annually in 52 eight farms (Danube Watch, 2007) Alternative technologies for waste water treatment For some small communities, several low cost alternative technologies for wastewater treatment were used. Firstly, in some towns in Russia, people carried sewage to depths well below the pycnocline so that the nutrients could be kept away from the phototrophic zone (ICPDR, 1999). The second example is in Kosice, Slovakia. Because of the shortage of funding on treating sewage, every household got pipes from the ICPDR to construct improved settling tanks and a newly constructed reed bed that removes nutrients without electricity (Danube Watch, 2007). In the end, the water quality of outputs doubled according to the national standards. Use of phosphate-free detergents A sharp reduction in phosphate effluents into the water may be triggered by a prohibition of polyphosphate-based detergents. In some Danube countries like Austria and Germany, alternatives have been already widely used. However, in countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, not a lot of switches on the phosphate detergents were made. In order to raise the public awareness about the links between water pollution and phosphate detergents, a project sponsored by ICPDR was promoted in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through big scale of transmission in the media and public, about 200,000 Sarajevo citizens took part actively in the communication activities (Danube Watch, 2007). According to the estimation by the project manager, phosphorous discharge dropped from 310 to 245 kg due to the campaign. In addition, because of the positive influence by the public participation, some local detergent companies ended up producing traditional detergents gradually and started to develop phosphate free detergents. To sum up, the practical implementation measures for reducing eutrophication in the Danube catchment shows a good demonstration for Tai Lake. In a developing or transition economy, some low-cost practical measures can be also be effective to decrease the nutrients, such as the last two measures highlighted above. 53 5. Conclusions and recommendations 5.1 Conclusions In China, there are so many changes taking place in the last two decades, especially in the economy and environment. As the concept of ‘integrated river basin management’ emerged, sustainable watershed development is widely adopted worldwide, which means maximizing economic, social and environmental benefits in the basin simultaneously. This case study of Tai Lake shows how the MRTB works in the surface water pollution control. This thesis contributes to the discussion about the possibilities to change the level of eutrophication in Tai Lake by analyzing the water pollution control at implementation, outcome and policy levels, and finally gleaning recommendations from the EU-WFD in terms of the observed issues. Most of the key actors are included in the regulation, but the public participation is not very active and lacking in consciousness. Basically, the stakeholders in Tai Lake are residents, factories and the government. Hence, there are three issues influencing the water pollution control among these stakeholders, which are the GDP performance evaluation model, the lack of administrative authority, and unplanned investment. From the interviews performed in this study, I found out the government promotes some strategies to implement the water pollution control, but other actors may evade it, such as traditional farming which uses a lot of fertilizer and residents using detergents containing phosphor. Through the comparison of water pollution control in Wuxi and Suzhou, I regard ‘tied interests’ as the rules of the game, including geographical, economic and social interests. In order to implement more efficient and effective water pollution control, a legislation, the MRTB was issued in 2011 after nine years’ of investigation and research, covering the holistic Taihu basin. Some interactions also took place after the issue of the regulation, especially in the 101 districts that used to suffer from pollution. To know the concrete results and effects in the interaction, I visited two sewage plants in Changzhou and one water board in Wuxi. Some methods indeed resist the water pollution, such as the high ratio of sewage pipe connection, weakening the endogenous pollution load, increasing the environmental capacity and recycling use of alga. However, it is still hard to see the public participation when executing water pollution control. In order to know the extent of eutrophication, I chose Zhushan Lake, which is the most seriously polluted sub-basin of Tai Lake, to collect water samples and undertake further study. From the water samples collected in August, September and October from 2007 to 2013, I discovered that the TP and CODMn concentrations are both on an increasing trend, due to the bad agricultural restrictions, resulting in excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Compared with the expected objectives, the contents of TN and NH3-N and the depth of SD get better than before, and Chl-a concentration does not change a lot. According to the policy framework introduced by United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), ten guiding principles on water pollution control are applied to analyze the MRTB at policy level, and eventually I identified four issues which are problematic, namely the inappropriate ratio of fines and profits, low administrative level of river basin agency, and the lack of agricultural restriction and public participation. Next, an example of Danube catchment management was discussed, and some low-cost measures on reducing eutrophication were demonstrated, such as precision farming and alternative technologies for sewage treatment 54 In conclusion, the control of TN, NH3 and SD in Zhushan Lake are under control, but it is the reverse for TP and CODMn, and the impact of Chl-a does not change a lot. I reckon that we can be hopeful for the eutrophication to become less severe in future with the targeted value of 65 in 2015 being attainable, if the government can act better in the field of agriculture (fertilizer and pesticides control). However, issues are also obvious and actions are required, such as raising public awareness and participation and reducing nutrients discharge from agriculture. 5.2 Recommendations As can be seen in the previous chapters, some issues overlap both the policy and the implementation level. Hence, some recommendations and strategies are required to address the overlap. The European Union Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD) is one of the most important legislations issued as of now, and it is treated to be a developed water policy that witnessed many negotiations and discussions before its endorsement. I am convinced that Tai Lake management can draw some lessons from some articles and guidelines in the EU-WFD. Some recommendations are proposed as following : Provide incentives for better agricultural practices and organize relevant workshops A great part of the nitrate and phosphor in the water bodies is mainly sourced from the nutrient loss in the agricultural practices. In other words, the eutrophication in the water is predominately triggered by the non-source pollution, such as traditional farming using an overdose of fertilizers. With the issue of the EU-WFD, the management of fertilizers and pesticides was strengthened. For instance, some EU countries regulated and established a strict registration system taking note of the toxicity of pesticides and fertilizers, dosage and use of fertilizers which may cause hazards for the ecological environment and public health. In Tai Lake, I recommend TBA and other governmental agencies to organize some workshops and projects for farmers pointing at organic farming and chemical-free demonstration through visits, trainings and published materials. Farmers can get subsidies and support payments when their practices reach the expectations of the government. These workshops can be initiated from the farmers in the most productive farming areas and plots close to the main tributaries of Tai Lake. Firstly, they are the closest and main nutrient producers in Tai Lake, so what they do to improve the agricultural practices can be an good example for the rest of the farmers. Secondly, their better agricultural practices may cut down their cost of purchasing fertilizers and pesticides, which can also attract more farmers to take part actively in the schemes. Set a list of ‘hazardous priority substances’ and complete phase-out of them gradually ‘Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources’ is another crucial tool to reduce the nitrate pollution from agriculture in EU. In the Nitrates Directive, it sets ‘nitrate vulnerable zones’ and corresponding agricultural ‘action program measures’, which drives the member states to reduce nitrate levels in a compulsory manner (Danube Watch, 2007). In addition, the EU-WFD also contributes to the good ecological status by setting a list of 33 ‘hazardous priority substances’ mainly in the fertilizers and pesticides ,and a time schedule was set on eliminating all of these substances within 20 years. 55 Similarly, I think the Ministry of Water Resources in China should also set a list of substances responsible for serious eutrophication in the water body and reduce or restrict the use of these substances. Taking the phosphate industry for example, some legislations could be issued to ban or reduce phosphates in detergents. In the meantime, public awareness on the link between phosphate-based detergent use and water pollution should be strengthened and raised, which could be executed through workshops in communities and schools, public service advertising on the newspapers and TV programs. Then, detergent factories may be driven to develop phosphate-free detergents with the pressure from the public and government. Set a ‘price ladder’ on the volume of water and sewage Because of the high priority focus on environmental issues and limited financial resources, many European countries apply more and more economics in regulating sustainable water management and policy. In addition, the EU-WFD has clarified the collaboration of economics and water management and policy, by applying principles of economics (polluter pays principle), applying economic methods and tools (cost-benefit analysis), and promoting economic instruments (water pricing). In China, some of these economic instruments are indeed applied in the water management and policy, but the situation is not satisfactory. For example, although the ‘polluter pays principle’ has been implemented, some polluting factories still prefer to pay more fees and fines rather than reducing effluents in that the water fines are not commensurate with their economic stakes. I am convinced that a ‘price ladder’ on the different volumes of water and wastewater is a positive way to reduce water pollution, which means charging fees in a progressively increasing over-quota system. Firstly, this instrument is supposed to adjust the water demand and raise the awareness of saving water among the public and factories. Moreover, fresh water is the source of wastewater. When the volume of fresh water is decreased due to the climbing water price, the volume of sewage will apparently decrease as well. In addition, setting a ‘price ladder’ on treating sewage enables small factories to run normally and not to be influenced by the progressive increase charges. On the other hand, big polluting factories have to worry about their cost because of the increasing sewage treatment fees, and finally the amount of effluents will be decreased. 5.3 Reflection From this research, I am convinced that some reflections can be highlighted in terms of the disadvantages of the used research approach, research methodology and future research objectives. Firstly, because of the intensive time schedule, I just chose Zhushan Lake, a sub-basin of Tai Lake to be my research area. Caution has to be expressed that the result of the water sample analysis cannot indicate the extent of eutrophication in the whole Tai Lake. Secondly, the practical measurements mentioned in the Danube catchment are derived from my literature review, while I realize it is better to go to the field to know and observe what actually happen in controlling surface water pollution there. Thirdly, it was quite difficult to get the database of water sample in Zhushan Lake, which should be approved by the chief in TBA in advance. Because of my parents’ networking, I could get the access to it or it would be hard for me to finish the task. Fourthly, in terms of my limited sample of people included in my interviews, I do think the sample capacity could be bigger, especially having more interviews and conversations with agricultural sectors, such as farmers and agriculture agencies. Fifthly, I am concerned that water sample collection and analysis are supposed to be put in the first step, then I could look for the answers through following 56 field work, which is more targeted. Sixthly, the topic is a bit politically sensitive, hence issues may been hidden by some data and interviewees. For example, during my visit in the sewage plants, the staff showed me their best practices for sure, so I could only look for their downsides through my observation. However, they are usually hidden somewhere difficult for strangers to discover. In addition, the data is sourced from the government, so it is hard to say whether it has been changed or improved, which may also influence my analysis result. Finally, with regard to the future research objectives, I reckon that they could be focused on how to control the nutrients load, especially permanganate and phosphor in Tai Lake, because these two indicators show an increasing trend, which may deteriorate the situation of eutrophication control. 57 References 1. Directive, S. F. (2008). Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Journal). Council Decision of 2. Gleeson, C., Gray, N., and Welch, E. B. (1997). Water pollution control: a guide to the use of water quality management principles. R. Helmer, and I. Hespanhol (Eds.). London: E and FN Spon. 3. Introduction of Tai Lake. Retrieved July 30, 2013, from http://www.tba.gov.cn//tba/content/TBA/gyth/index.html 4. Wang, Y. Important progress towards integrated river basin management in China, China Hydraulic News. Available at: http://res.sppm.tsinghua.edu.cn:6060/cms.view.do?m=detailandpid=1555. Accessed May 6, 2012. 5. Zhang, Y, et al. (2011). Research Progress of the Occurrence Mechanism of Different Lakes 6. Haggard, B. E., et al (1999). Trophic conditions and gradients of the headwater reach of Beaver Lake, Arkansas. In Proceedings, Oklahoma Academy of Science (Vol. 79, pp. 73-84). 7. Zhen, J, et al (2006). The definition of water blooms, Water resource conservation, 22(5), 45-47 8. Rap, E., Wester, P., and Pérez-Prado, L. N. (2004). The politics of creating commitment: Irrigation reforms and the reconstitution of the hydraulic bureaucracy in Mexico. The politics of irrigation reform: Contested policy formulation and implementation in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 57-94. 9. Long, N., and Ploeg, J. D. V. D. (1989). Demythologizing planned intervention: an actor perspective. Sociologia Ruralis, 29(3‐4), 226-249. 10. Li, J, et al. (2009) Thinking of shallow lakes cyan bacterial blooms early warning monitoring [J] Environmental science and management, 34(4), 121-125 11. Taihu Health Status Report (2012). Retrieved June 18, 2013, from http://www.tba.gov.cn//tba/content/TBA/lygb/thjkzkbg/0000000000001477.html 12. Full Implementation of Regulations to Promote Sound and Rapid the Taihu basin Development. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.chinawater.com.cn/ztgz/xwzt/2011thlygltl/8/201111/t20111101_201599.html 13. Mollinga, P., et al (1993). The Study of Irrigation: Theoretical Approach-A Lecture for the ZIMWESI Research Group, Benton in New Left Review (NO. 194, pp. 67) 14. Mollinga, P. P., Meinzen‐Dick, R. S., and Merrey, D. J. (2007). Politics, plurality and problemsheds: A strategic approach for reform of agricultural water resources management. Development Policy Review, 25(6), 699-719. 15. Mollinga, P. P. (2001). Water and politics: levels, rational choice and South Indian canal irrigation. Futures, 33(8), 733-752. 16. Council of the European Communities. Directive concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (91/676/EEC). 17. Wuxi Taihu Lake Water Conservation and Water Pollution Control [M]. China Water Power Press, 2009. 18. China State Council. Management Regulation of the Taihu basin (11/604/CSC) 19. Ten Frequently Asked Questions-International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, from 58 http://www.icpdr.org/main/icpdr/10-frequently-asked-questions-international-commission-prot ection-danube-river 20. Wang,Y. (2012) Governance Analysis under the Balance of Interests in Taihu Lake Basin Water Pollution. Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Social Sciences Edition), 1, 005. 21. Wang, J, et al "South Lake water content of chlorophyll a relationship with nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations." Journal of Zhejiang Ocean University: Natural Science Edition 30.3 (2011): 190-193. 22. The Danube-Black Sea clean-up story, Retrieved Danube Watch 1/2007, from http://www.icpdr.org/main/publications/danube-black-sea-clean-story 23. Fighting nutrient pollution with precision farming, Retrieved Danube Watch 3-4/2009,from http://www.icpdr.org/main/publications/fighting-nutrient-pollution-precision-farming 59 60 ANNEX I - Public questionnaire NO. Questionnaire (public) Date: Name: Age: Gender: ☐M☐F Job: 1. How long have you lived in Wuxi? ☐<3y☐<5y☐<10y☐>10y 2. From your personal perspective, is the current water quality better than it in 2010 in Tai Lake in Wuxi? ☐Yes☐No☐More or less Reason: 3. Where do you get the information about water pollution control of Tai Lake in Wuxi? ☐Newspaper☐TV program☐Internet☐Other people☐Others: 4. Where do you think is the most serious polluted district in Tai Lake in Wuxi? Why? District: Reason: 5. Do you know Management and Regulation of the Taihu basin (the MRTB)? If you know, how do you know it? ☐Yes ☐No If yes: ☐Newspaper☐TV program☐Internet☐Other people☐Others: 6. Did you participate any public events or training about water resources conservation? What are they? Who delivered them? ☐ Yes ☐ No 7. Do you think the implementation of the MRTB can be effective and helpful to water pollution of Tai Lake in Wuxi? Why? ☐ Yes Reason ☐ No Reason 61 NO. 问卷调查（公众） 日期: 姓名: 年龄: 性别 : ☐男☐女 职业: 1. 你在无锡居住多久了？ ☐<3 年☐<5 年☐<10 年☐>10 年 2. 从你个人来看，现在无锡太湖的水质有没有比 2010 年时的水质好？ ☐是☐否☐差不多☐不清楚 原因: 3. 你从哪里获取关于无锡太湖水污染防治的有关信息？ ☐报纸☐电视节目☐网络☐其他人☐其他途径: 4. 你认为无锡太湖水污染最严重的地方在哪？为什么？ 地方: 原因: 5. 你知道《太湖流域管理条例》吗? 如果知道，是怎样知道的？ ☐是 ☐报纸☐电视节目☐网络☐其他人☐其他途径: ☐否 6. 你是否参与过关于水污染防治或者水资源保护的公益活动或者培训？如果有，有哪些？是 谁发起的？ ☐ 是 ☐ 否 7. 你认为《太湖流域管理条例》的执行会对无锡太湖水污染防治有效果、有帮助吗？为什么？ ☐ 是 原因 ☐ 否 原因 62 ANNEX II – Water board interview NO. Questionnaire (water board) Date: Name: Age: Gender: ☐M☐F Job (Department): 1. How long have you worked in the water board? ☐<3y☐<5y☐<10y☐>10y 2. From your personal perspective, is the current water quality better than it in 2010 in Tai Lake in Wuxi? ☐Yes☐No☐More or less Reason: 3. Where do you think is the most serious polluted district in Tai Lake in Wuxi? Why? District: Reason: 3. After the implementation of the MRTB, what concrete results and effects does it produce to Tai Lake in Wuxi? 4. What are the objectives of water pollution control in Tai Lake inWuxi in 2012 and 2013? 5. Do the outcomes of surface water control meet the objectives above? If not? Why? 6. Did your department or agency organize any public events or training about water pollution control or water resources conservation? What are they? ☐ Yes ☐ No 63 NO. 问卷调查（水利部门） 日期: 姓名: 年龄: 性别 : ☐男☐女 职业 （部门）: 1. 你在水利部门工作多久了? ☐<3 年☐<5 年☐<10 年☐>10 年 2. 从你个人来看，现在无锡太湖的水质有没有比 2010 年时的水质好？ ☐是☐否☐差不多☐不清楚 原因: 3. 你认为无锡太湖污染最严重的地方在哪？为什么？ 地方: 原因: 3. 在《太湖流域管理条例》实施以后，它对于无锡太湖的水污染防治产生了什么好的成果和 影响？ 4. 在 2011 年、2012 年， 无锡在太湖水污染防治方面制定了什么样的目标？是否达到？如 果否，为什么？ 5. 你所在的部门或者单位有没有组织任何关于水污染防治或者水资源保护的公众活动或者 培训？如果有，有哪些？ ☐ 是 ☐ 否 64 ANNEX III – Factory employers’ interview NO. Questionnaire (factory) Date: Name: Age: Gender: ☐M☐F Job (Department): 1. How long have you worked in the factory? ☐<3y☐<5y☐<10y☐>10y 2. What does the factory mainly produce? How much sewage does your factory produce per day? And what are the pollutants? 3. What are the wastewater treatment facilities in the factory? How often does your factory use it? 4. How many outlets are there in the factory? Where are they located? 5 How often do the water or environment board visit and check the outlets? Did your factory ever pay fine or get warning about the sewage emission? 6. After the implementation of the MRTB from the end of 2011, what concrete effects (economic and social) does it produce to factory? 7. Did you hear that some factory will move or be close somewhere because of the high requirements for water pollution control? If so, where is it? 8. Did you participate any public events or training about water pollution control or water resources conservation? What are they? Who delivered them? ☐ Yes ☐ No 65 NO. 问卷调查（工厂） 日期: 姓名: 年龄: 性别 : ☐男☐女 职业 （部门）: 1. 你在这个工厂工作多久了? ☐<3 年☐<5 年☐<10 年☐>10 年 2. 工厂主要生产什么？工厂每天产生的污水有多少？主要包括哪些污染物？ 3. 工厂内有哪些污水处理设施?工厂多久使用一次？ 4.工厂有多少排污口？他们位于什么位置（排向什么河流）？ 5.环保（或水利）部门多久过来检查排污口一次？工厂是否曾经因为污水排放问题支付过罚 款或者接受过处理？ 6. 在 2011 年年底《太湖流域管理条例》实行以后，对工厂产生了什么确切的影响（社会的、 经济的）？ 7. 你是否听说一些工厂因为水污染防治要求而关闭或搬迁？如果有，是哪里？ 8. 你是否参与过关于水污染防治或者水资源保护的公益活动或者培训？如果有，有哪些？ 是谁发起的？ ☐ 是 ☐ 否 66