Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from Northeast China fall on Korea and Japan, while emissions from Southeast China fall on Vietnam and Southeast Asia. China emits about 18 million tons of sulphur dioxide annually, about 7 million of which comes from power generation. 31 Greenhouse gas emissions by Asian countries, particularly China, are expected to increase dramatically. This contrasts with the major and more direct environmental problems confronting governments in the Asia Pacific region where the adverse impacts on the environment and society are well-known, as are the sorts of actions needed to deal with them. Power generation generates liquid and thermal wastes ranging from ash-quenching systems, cooling water, coal storage runoff, boiler blowdown water and water from flue gas desulphurisation treatments.
Wastewater tends to be warm, acidic and laden with metals and other inorganic compounds.
Such water emissions are generally not treated but discharged straight into rivers or municipal waste water systems. As with other environmental policy areas, little monitoring exists so little data is available. Power generation also generates solid wastes in the form of various types of ash and scrubber sludge. For example, the 980 million tons of coal used in China in 1988 required the disposal of 100 million tons of ash and sludge. 34 Solid wastes are generally dumped in land fills.