China Policy Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2018 | Page 22

Water-Pollutant Discharge-Fee System in China
costs, which subsequently reduces profit.
Firms would choose the cheapest
way to solve the pollution issue: either
by discharging or adopting advanced
technology. The fee system regulates the
relationship between enterprises and
the environment in order to offset the
cost. Correspondingly, the decline in
recorded dischargers since the system’s
reform in 2003 proves the stringency of
the regulations and related standards.
The declining number of enterprises
versus the increasing wastewater-fee
amount in the following decade implies
an increase in the fee amount, which indirectly
demonstrates that the standard
also became more stringent, motivated
by the aim of forcing enterprises to
adopt abatement technology. Simultaneously,
the severe environmental deterioration
within that decade not only
increased public concern about water-resource
scarcity, but also strengthened
the importance of the fee system’s
follow-up monitoring.
4.1.2. Economic Factors
As an economic incentive, the water-pollutant
discharge-fee system could
not be implemented independently
without taking into account the macro-economic
circumstances. The economic
structure and its development
drive the water-pollutant discharge-fee
system, as revealed in the changing
trend of the GDP (Figure 6). The GDP
stably increased at the rate of 14.2% until
its peak in 2007, after which it fluctuated,
decreasing until 2014 during the
economic recovery from the financial
crisis, which correspondingly affected
the water-pollutant discharge-fee system.
The relationship between the GDP
and the water-pollutant discharge fee is
demonstrated by the same though more
obviously changing trend in the former.
This means not only that the fee program
is implemented at a specific scale,
but also that it has a strong correlation
to the macro policy and strategy.
4.2. Internal Factors
4.2.1. Data Management
The pollution fee is calculated based on
monitoring data. There exists difficulty
in obtaining data accuracy, even in
the same river basin area, data monitored
by different sectors with different
methods do not match with each other.
The water-pollutant discharge data
are monitored by executors and/or the
dischargers. From a governmental perspective,
the data are rarely shared or
combined with different data-monitoring
methods, which makes it difficult
to conduct further data analyses. Additionally,
pollution data are also difficult
to access, data sharing and transparency
are low, and the coverage of the
pollution monitoring system is limited,
which intensifies the uncertainty and
confusion. As the data for several pollution
areas are absent, unified and comprehensive
pollution-data management
needs to be pursued to fill the gap.
4.2.2. Enforcement Transparency
The procedures in the apply–verify process
are complex and limit the system’s
full promotion, and the information
asymmetry for executors constrains the
development of the water-pollutant discharge-fee
system. The accuracy and re-
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