Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution (1996)

Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution (1996)

Order of Chairman No.66

May 15, 1996

(Adopted at the Fifth Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on May 11, 1984; revised according to the Decision on Revising the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution at the 19th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on May 15, 1996)

Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Establishment of Standards for Water Environment Quality and for Discharge of Water Pollutants
Chapter III Supervision and Management of Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
Chapter IV Prevention of Surface Water Pollution
Chapter V Prevention of Ground Water Pollution
Chapter VI Legal Liabilities
Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions
　
Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of preventing and controlling water pollution, protecting and improving the environment, safeguarding human health, ensuring effective utilization of water resources and promoting progress of the socialist modernization drive.
　
Article 2 This Law applies to prevention and control of pollution of rivers, lakes, canals, irrigation channels, reservoirs and other surface water bodies and of ground water bodies within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
This Law is not applicable to prevention and control of marine pollution, which is provided for by a separate law.
　
Article 3 Relevant departments under the State Council and local people's governments at various levels must incorporate protection of the water environment into their plans and adopt ways and measures to prevent and control water pollution.
　
Article 4 The environmental protection departments of the people's governments at various levels shall be the organs exercising unified supervision and management of prevention and control of water pollution.
Navigation administration offices of the communications departments at various levels shall be the organs exercising supervision and management of pollution caused by ships.
Water conservancy administration departments, public health administration departments, geological and mining departments, municipal administration departments, and water sources protection agencies for major rivers of the people's governments at various levels shall, through performing their respective functions and in conjunction with environmental protection departments, exercise supervision over and management of prevention and control of water pollution.
　
Article 5 All units and individuals shall have the duty to protect the water environment and the right to supervise and inform against any pollution or damage to the water environment.
Any unit or individual that has suffered damage directly from a water pollution hazard shall have the right to demand elimination of the hazard and compensation for the damage by the polluter.

Chapter II Establishment of Standards for Water Environment Quality and for Discharge of Water Pollutants
　
Article 6 The environmental protection department under the State Council shall establish the national standards for water environment quality.
The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may establish their own local standards for the items that are not specified in the national standards for water environment quality and report the same to the environmental protection department under the State Council for the record.
　
Article 7 The environmental protection department under the State Council shall, in line with the national standards for water environment quality and the country's economic and technological conditions, establish the national standards for discharge of water pollutants.
The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may establish their own local standards for the items that are not specified in the national standards for discharge of water pollutants. With regard to the items that are already specified in the national standards for discharge of water pollutants, they may establish more stringent local standards than the national standards. All local standards must be reported to the environmental protection department under the State Council for the record.
Those who discharge pollutants into any water body for which local standards have been established shall observe such local standards.
　
Article 8 The environmental protection department under the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in line with the requirements of prevention and control of water pollution and the country's economic and technological conditions, amend in due time their standards for water environment quality and for discharge of water pollutants.

Chapter III Supervision and Management of Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
　
Article 9 Relevant departments under the State Council and local people's governments at various levels shall, when developing, utilizing, regulating and allocating water resources, make integrated plans for maintaining proper river flows, proper water levels of lakes, reservoirs and proper ground water tables, in order to retain the natural purification capacity of water bodies.
　
Article 10 To prevent and control water pollution, it is necessary to make unified plans on the basis of river basins or regions. Plans for preventing and controlling water pollution of basins of major rivers, designated as such by the State, shall be formulated by the environmental protection department under the State Council, together with the competent department of planning, water conservancy administration department and other departments concerned as well as the people's governments of relevant provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and shall be submitted to the State Council for approval.
Plans for preventing and controlling water pollution of basins of other rivers that run across provinces or counties shall be formulated, in line with the plans for preventing and controlling water pollution of basins of major rivers, designated as such by the State, and in light of actual local conditions, by the environmental protection departments of the people's governments at or above the provincial level, together with the water conservancy administration departments and other departments concerned as well as the relevant local people's governments, and shall be submitted to the State Council or the people's governments at the provincial level for approval. Plans for preventing and controlling water pollution of basins of other rivers that run across counties but not provinces shall be submitted by the people's government of the province concerned to the State Council for the record.
Plans for preventing and controlling water pollution, once approved, shall serve as the essential basis for prevention and control of water pollution, and any modification of such plans shall be subject to approval of the original departments that approved the plans.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the approved plans for preventing and controlling water pollution of river basins, organize people to work out plans for preventing and controlling water pollution for their own administrative regions and incorporate such plans in the long-term, medium-term and annual plans of their administrative regions for national economic and social development.
　
Article 11 Relevant departments under the State Council and local people's governments at various levels shall make rational plans for the geographical distribution of industries, subject those enterprises that cause water pollution to rectification and technological updating, adopt comprehensive prevention and control measures, increase the rate of water recycling, utilize resources rationally and reduce discharge of waste water and pollutants.
　
Article 12 The people's governments at or above the county level may delineate protection zones for water bodies in scenic or historic sites, major fishery water bodies and other water bodies of special economic or cultural value, and take measures to ensure that the water quality in those protection zones complies with the standards for the designated uses.
　
Article 13 New construction projects and expansion or reconstruction projects and other installations on water that directly or indirectly discharge pollutants to water bodies shall be subject to relevant State regulations governing environmental protection for such projects.
In the environmental impact statement of a construction project an assessment shall be made regarding the water pollution hazards the project is likely to produce and its impact on the ecosystem, and measures for their prevention and control shall be prescribed.
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