SCIENCE magazine published an article entitled, “China to Spend Billions Cleaning Up Groundwater,” on November 11, featuring the 408th Xiangshan Science Conference organized by the Peking University Center for Water Research.

The article reported on the grim situation of groundwater contamination in China, the Chinese government’s 10-year initiative to tackle the contamination and the challenges that the program may face in its implementation process.

Organized by Chunmiao Zheng, a professor in the College of Engineering and hydrologist at the Peking University Center for Water Research, the 408th  Xiangshan Science Conference was held from  September 27-29 in Beijing with the theme: “The Formation, Evolution and Regulation of Typical Groundwater Contamination Problem in China”.

The U.S. magazine sent a freelance writer to report on this academic conference, which offered an opportunity to observe China’s latest progress in preventing and treating its groundwater contamination problem.

The article highlighted Zheng’s belief that launching a government program is the first step in tackling groundwater pollution. Because the project is so large and complex, fundamentally solving the problem requires a concerted effort from many fields. Zheng pointed out that the provision of a legal framework and carrying out basic research are particularly important.

As the hazards of groundwater contamination are hidden and lagging behind, this state-level action dealing  with groundwater pollution is long overdue, similar to the cases of many western countries.

Peking University Center for Water Research has been actively involved in the Program, and has played an important role in the comprehensive national groundwater basic environment survey.
 

“China to Spend Billions Cleaning Up Groundwater”, Science, Vol. 334, 11 November 2011