(CFP Photo)

The key indicators to track the state of ecology and environment in Jiangsu Province improved in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, according to a video conference on management of sewage discharge outlets in Taihu Lake basin and priorities of pollution control.

Amid the stable economic growth, Jiangsu’s PM2.5 concentration reached 37 micrograms per cubic meter in the first six months, down 9.8%.

Water quality also improved in Wuxi area of Taihu Lake. The city has introduced a comprehensive monitoring of its 142 km of shoreline, 84 sites of blue-green algae clean-up, and 89 video inspection points.

Suzhou also carried out use of organic waste around Taihu Lake and sorted out 32 key projects with planned investment of about 9.95 billion yuan. The city’s Wuzhong District built the province's first demonstration base for the treatment and utilization of organic waste. Taicang City created the province's first circular agriculture system with the comprehensive straw utilization rate at 100 percent.

According to the meeting, air pollution is the biggest challenge for the province and a top difficulty is high concentrations of ozone while the main polluters are volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Jiangsu will strengthen the pollution control in industrial parks, improve the efficiency of public transport vehicles, accelerate the efforts to phase out old vehicles, support the use of new energy light trucks for urban freight transport, and also tighten the quality supervision of paint products to reduce VOCs emissions.

In addition, Xuzhou City will have a comprehensive study of its 43 brick and tile plants, 52 glass manufactures, 239 foundries and 29 lime kiln companies, and then launch rectifications in line with emission standards.