An annual environmental report on key cities showed that the cities with the best environmental quality were Haikou, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Guilin and Beihai; the cities with the best pollution control were Nantong, Lianyungang, Shenyang, Suzhou and Fuzhou; and the cities with the best environmental infrastructure were Dalian, Yantai, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Haikou.
And the 10 cities with the heaviest air pollution were Linfen, Yangquan, Datong, Shizuishan, Sanmenxia, Jinchang, Shijiazhuang, Xianyang, Zhuzhou and Luoyang.
China currently ****s 668 cities, housing 36.1 percent of the population, contributing 70 percent of gross domestic product and 80 percent of tax revenue. The environmental report released includes 47 key cities, including provincial capitals, municipalities directly under the central government, coastal open cities, special economic zone cities and scenic cities.
"With high economic growth, the emission intensity of industrial pollutants per unit of added value in 2003 for all 47 key cities declined from 2002, and the growth rate of pollution was smaller than the growth rate of industrial added value." Wang Jirong, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Administration, said at the 13th conference.
Urban pollution is mainly categorized into air pollution, water pollution and noise pollution. The report shows that, compared with 2002, in 2003, air pollution (including respirable particulate matter, sulfur dioxide concentration annual daily average) in 47 key cities decreased slightly; the centralized treatment rate of urban sewage, the rate of harmless treatment of domestic garbage and the rate of centralized treatment of hazardous wastes increased by 10.68 percentage points, 1.78 percentage points and 12.06 percentage points, respectively; the annual average value of ambient noise and The annual average value of noise from main transportation routes has slightly decreased.
In addition, the green coverage rate increased by 0.68 percentage points, and the average environmental protection investment increased by 0.14 percentage points, reaching 2.43 percent of GDP.
Wang Jirong said that despite the steady rise in the overall environmental situation, air pollution in some cities remains serious. In addition, the annual daily average concentration of nitrogen dioxide has risen significantly in cities such as Beijing, Harbin, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Xi'an and Yinchuan due to a surge in the number of motor vehicles.
Additionally, the environmental infrastructure in some cities is weak. in 2003, the cities with low centralized domestic sewage treatment rates included Changchun, Harbin, Wuhan, Zhanjiang, Beihai, Chongqing and Lhasa; and the cities with low rates of harmless domestic garbage treatment included Harbin, Urumqi and Guiyang.
China has been implementing a quantitative assessment system for comprehensive urban environmental improvement since 1989, which includes urban environmental quality, pollution prevention and control, infrastructure construction and environmental management system. In addition to the 47 key cities for environmental protection, 561 other cities participate in the assessment, with the number of participants accounting for 91% of the total number of cities in the country.