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2001 AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION DELEGATION TO CHINA
Citation:
Lowrey, K. P. AND R E. Hall*. 2001 AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION DELEGATION TO CHINA. Presented at A&WMA 96th Annual Conference & Exhibition, San Diego, CA, 22-26 June 2003.
Description:
The paper describes a visit to the People's Republic of China (China) by members of the Air & Waste Management Association in October-November 2001 as part of a People to People Ambassador Program delegation. The delegation's main goal was to exchange information in the field of air pollution control between environmental professionals in the United States and China. China, although a world power, is struggling with the serious environmental issues stemming from the tremendous industrial growth that has occurred over the past 20 years. The environmental professionals with whom the delegation met, at both the regulatory agency and university levels, are keenly aware of the current environmental situation that exists in China and are working toward improvements. In fact, the environmental issues being investigated at the university level, such as coal gasification and secondary particulate formation, are the same advanced issues being investigated in the United States and other more environmentally advanced countries. Implementation of pollution prevention and control measures is the main area in which China needs to improve. While the environmental professionals focus on issues such as dioxin control, the government seems to be focused on the development of "green" parks in the cities. Meanwhile, coal combustion takes place throughout the country without even the most rudimentary control of coarse particulate emissions. Thus, it is all too clear that the level of implementation of pollution prevention and control measures lags awareness and technical know-how by several generations within China.