Heavy metal pollution cannot be overlooked. Heavy metals feature strong migration, latency, bio-accumulation and biological toxicity. Once they enter the environment or human bodies, they keep accumulating and pose threats to ecological environment and human health. Relevant authorities have kept advancing heavy metal pollution prevention and control to prevent unnecessary harm.
In March 2022, relevant authorities issued guidelines on strengthening heavy metal pollution prevention and control. The target set was to cut heavy metal pollutant discharge from key industries by 5% by 2025 compared with the level in 2020. The document also specified the enhancement of heavy metal monitoring and early warning, with thallium listed as one of the key heavy metal pollutants under prevention and control. Key measures include accelerating the R&D and application of technologies and equipment for online monitoring of heavy metals in wastewater, and building a sound monitoring and early warning system for heavy metal pollution to improve information-based supervision. In areas with concentrated enterprises involving thallium, the TL-900 online thallium analyzer for water can be deployed downstream to monitor thallium concentration and its variations in real time.
Supervision for thallium-related enterprises needs continuous improvement. As mentioned above, thallium and antimony were newly added as monitoring indicators in the guidelines. When asked by reporters, officials from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment explained: “During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, heavy metal pollutant discharge from key industries was well controlled. However, heavy metal environmental management in China remained inadequate. Unreasonable layout and insufficient pollution treatment capacity of enterprises in key industries prevented fundamental improvements, leading to thallium and antimony pollution incidents. Legacy heavy metal pollution became increasingly prominent and brought risks to ecological environment and human health.”
Based on analysis, the 2022 prevention and control guidelines imposed total emission control on five heavy metals including lead, chromium, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. For thallium and antimony, management was strengthened from the perspective of environmental risk prevention and control. Authorities carried out comprehensive inspections of thallium-related enterprises, guided and supervised these enterprises to establish ledgers for thallium pollution risks and formulate rectification plans. Upgrading of wastewater treatment facilities at thallium-related enterprises was promoted, with strict compliance requirements for wastewater discharge outlets enforced.
It should also be noted that thallium is a key pollutant under supervision, which does not mean other heavy metal pollution can be ignored. The document also stresses the reinforcement of heavy metal pollution monitoring and early warning, bringing favorable development opportunities for various devices such as water quality online monitors.
