The Ministry of Environmental Protection released the ''Key Points of National Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Work in 2017''

The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently issued the "Key Points of National Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Work in 2017," systematically deploying key tasks for national environmental monitoring.

This year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will actively promote environmental monitoring reform and further improve the system and mechanisms. It will strengthen the planning and implementation of the ecological and environmental monitoring network, enhance the construction of standards for the establishment of environmental monitoring institutions, and further clarify the attributes and functions of environmental monitoring institutions at the provincial, municipal, and county levels nationwide. It will actively promote the centralization of authority for monitoring surface water and nearshore marine environments.

Regarding deepening air quality monitoring and forecasting, the Ministry will optimize the air quality monitoring network, standardize the operation and maintenance of air quality monitoring, and strengthen air quality forecasting. It will improve the particulate matter composition and photochemical monitoring network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, and promote the construction of particulate matter composition and photochemical monitoring networks in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu-Chongqing regions. The national urban station video and security monitoring systems will be installed and networked, gradually realizing online supervision and assessment of urban station operation and maintenance. Air quality forecasts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta regions will achieve 3-day accurate forecasts and 7-day trend forecasts, with the establishment of regional forecast centers and the exploration of a chief forecaster system.

Regarding strengthening water environment quality monitoring and early warning, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will organize monitoring of national-level surface water monitoring sections and nearshore marine monitoring points; and conduct joint upstream and downstream monitoring of cross-provincial and cross-city boundary sections. Simultaneously, it will issue the "Technical Regulations for Ranking Urban Surface Water Environmental Quality," implementing a "dual ranking" system for urban surface water environmental quality status and changes, and regularly publishing lists of the 10 best and 10 worst cities.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection will optimize national-level soil environmental quality monitoring points and improve the national soil environmental quality monitoring network. It will organize routine monitoring, implement external quality control and supervision, and gradually establish a soil environmental monitoring quality control system.

Regarding strengthening ecological remote sensing and pollution source monitoring, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will organize county-level ecological environment quality monitoring, evaluation, and assessment, and jointly report assessment results with the Ministry of Finance. It will strengthen environmental remote sensing monitoring and application, and comprehensively analyze and evaluate the ecological environment status and changes at different scales. Furthermore, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will establish a rapid linkage mechanism for environmental monitoring and regulatory enforcement. It will compile and print self-monitoring guidelines for industries such as cement, steel, and textiles. Provincial-level environmental protection departments will coordinate and arrange pollution source monitoring tasks, while city and county-level departments will conduct pollution source monitoring and enforcement monitoring.

This year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will further promote the construction of an environmental monitoring quality control system, actively build a three-tiered quality control system at the national, regional, and monitoring/operation and maintenance agency levels, increase the intensity of routine and unannounced inspections, and improve the quality of environmental monitoring data. It will also promote the sharing and application of monitoring information and the nationwide networking of environmental monitoring data, and establish a national platform for the management and information sharing of key pollution source monitoring data. Furthermore, it will increase the transparency of environmental monitoring information and strengthen comprehensive environmental quality analysis.