BEIJING (Reuters) - A new Chinese government survey of the country's environmental problems has shown water pollution levels in 2007 were more than twice the government's official estimate, largely because agricultural waste was ignored.
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The data, presented by Vice Environment Protection Minister Zhang Lijun, revives persistent questions about the quality of Chinese official statistics and the effectiveness of a government push for cleaner growth after decades of unbridled expansion.
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The first national census on pollution sources found that discharge of "chemical oxygen demand" (COD) -- a measure of water pollution -- in wastewater was 30.3 million metric tons, Zhang said.
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The government had said in an official paper published two years ago that 2007 was the first year it managed to reduce water pollution, with COD falling 3 percent to 13.8 million metric tons.
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The census has been years in the making, in part because it was extremely comprehensive, but possibly also because the contents include painful revelations like this one.
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Zhang played down the difference between the totals. He said it was explained by the survey's expanded scope, the inclusion of agricultural sources of wastewater -- which contributed some 13.2 million metric tons -- and different calculation methods.
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"The scope of the data was different, this time it included a survey of agricultural sources," Zhang told a news conference.
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A more detailed survey of industrial and household emissions, and a different statistical approach also contributed to the leap. When these were accounted for, COD was only around 5 percent above the original 2007 figure, he said.
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Figures for other pollutants did not suggest widespread fiddling of data. Acid-rain-causing sulfur dioxide emissions for example, were pegged at 23.2 million metric tons by the census and had been estimated at 24.7 million metric tons in the earlier data.
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But whether the omission of agricultural pollutants was intentional or not, the fact that the government managed to overlook a major contributor to one of its benchmark pollution indicators is bound to raise concern.
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MORE DATA NOT RELEASED
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There may also be other serious problems that Beijing is reluctant to reveal. Activists who welcomed the effort to collect a more comprehensive picture of the country's pollution problem, also called for access to detailed results.
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"It appears that the comprehensive pollution data from the census has not been made accessible to the public," Greenpeace Campaign Director Sze Pang Cheung said.
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"We urge the government to immediately establish a strong platform through which the public could easily access a wide range of pollution data."
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Zhang said the survey had given China a better handle on its challenges and the country in future would hope to increase the range of pollutants it monitored and controlled.
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It was a sign of China's commitment to shifting its economic model, he added, which should allow it to cap pollution growth at an earlier stage of development than western nations.
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"Because China has taken a different development path than other advanced nations, it is very likely that the peak of our pollution will come (earlier)," he said.
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But he added that the government would not change the baseline or survey methods for a target of cutting wastewater pollution 10 percent by 2010 from 2005 levels.
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"The emission reduction base was determined on the basis of 2005 environmental data, and so the targets...have to remain the same," he said.
