Comparison of Regional Urban Water Pollutants Emission Standards and Determination of Factors Influencing Their Integration—A Case Study of the Biopharmaceutical Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Liping Cao, Xinyu Liu, Shuai Zhang and Mingjie Lyu
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Liping Cao: Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai 200020, China
Xinyu Liu: Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai 200020, China
Shuai Zhang: College of Design and Creativity, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Mingjie Lyu: Accounting College, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai 201620, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: Urban pharmaceutical industries are responsible for high intensity emissions of water pollutants. The regional water pollutant emission standards vary greatly throughout the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) in China, which, to some extent, results in increased risks and hidden dangers to regional water environment safety, especially water quality. Under the national strategy of Yangtze River Delta ecological and green integration development, a unified standard of water pollutant emissions should be integrated into the integration development process, but differences between characteristic items, concentration limits, and conditions among four local standards of water pollutant emission have become a key influencing factor in their integration in industry and in green transformation. When comparing the water pollutant emission standards of the biopharmaceutical industry in three provinces and one municipality of the YRDUA, the factors influencing integration were determined and caused by the main differences in local water pollutant emission standards, namely, the race to the bottom of the biopharmaceutical industry, the inconsistency of environmental protection regulation law, and transboundary water pollution risks. From the perspective of urban water quality safety, we propose the following strategies for promoting the integration of water pollutant emission standards in the YRDUA: (1) increasing government funding for local water pollution governance and encouraging industries to adopt the third-party governance model for pollution control in the YRDUA; (2) unifying water pollutant emission standards and environmental law enforcement standards in the YRDUA with a mechanism involving shared economic responsibility; and (3) establishing a platform for sharing data and governance performance for the emission of water pollutants in the YRDUA.

Keywords: urban water; water pollutant; emission standards; integration; influencing factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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