13th Five-Year Plan of Anhui Province For Heavy Metal Pollution Prevention and Control Issued

The 13th Five-Year Plan of Anhui Province for Heavy Metal Pollution Prevention and Control ("Plan"), jointly prepared by the Anhui Provincial Environmental Protection Department, Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission and Anhui Provincial Commission of Economy and Information Technology with technical support from the research group on soil planning under the Anhui Provincial Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, was recently printed and distributed to implement the Work Plan of Anhui Province for Soil Pollution Prevention and control, further strengthen prevention and control of heavy metal pollution, prevent environmental risks and improve environmental quality.

The Plan is based on the basic ideas of control and treatment, stock cuts, prevention and control at source, process interruption, clean production, end-of-pipe treatment, and comprehensive whole-process prevention and control. The Plan has highlighted the major heavy metal pollutants, areas and industries for prevention and control and clearly set out the objectives, tasks and measures for the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution during the implementation period in accordance with the principles of overall planning, comprehensive prevention and control, government guidance, highlighting key points, viewing enterprises as primary players and strengthening supervision in order to ensure effective prevention and control of heavy metal pollution. The Plan has set out objectives for prevention and control of heavy metal pollution in Anhui Province during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. By 2020, the emissions of key heavy metal pollutants by key industries of Anhui Province will be reduced by 10% than 2013, the key heavy metal pollutant indexes of centralized surface drinking water sources for towns and cities will 100% meet the standards, all the key heavy metal pollutants in the surface water cross-section for national assessment will meet the water quality requirements, the key heavy metal pollutants in key areas will meet the water quality requirements of water functional areas, and lead concentration in air will meet the Grade II air quality standards. In order to achieve the above objectives, the Plan has proposed key tasks, such as strengthening pollution prevention and control in key industries, strictly implementing the supervision of pollution sources, strictly controlling the emissions of heavy metals, and strengthening the building of basic supervision capacity, as well as the policies and measures for guaranteeing the implementation of the Plan.