Many of Beijing's 490 garbage dumps are going to be cleaned up
as the city reports ground water near some of them has been
contaminated with bacteria many times greater than the safe
level.
The city will close and dig up garbage dumps that are less then
5,000 square meters which fail to meet environmental standards. The
waste from the old dumps will be transported to environmentally
sound garbage dumps.
In 2004, the city generated 4.91 million tons of garbage with
3.93 million tons disposed in environmentally sound landfill sites
and 980,000 tons dumped directly on local lands. On average per
Beijingers each dispose of 820 grams of garbage a day.
A recently released report from the city's environmental and
geological departments shows that garbage dumped in the open air or
buried in unsanitary dumps has polluted the soil and
groundwater.
The capital city's government is now going to set up groundwater
monitoring systems over large garbage dumps.
Tests show that groundwater near 14 monitored dumps has been
contaminated, with bacteria far above the safe level, said the
report.
(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2006)
