China plans to conduct a nationwide survey on soil pollution, the country's environmental protection minister announced Monday, a week after hundreds of students at a school in East China reportedly developed severe illnesses from pollution in a nearby field.  

Chen Jining, minister of environmental protection, said in a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Monday that China will soon carry out a Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, starting with a national survey on soil pollution, and managing and controlling soil pollution.

He said China will set national monitoring points on soil contamination, build a database on soil pollution, enact standards on soil protection and promote pilot projects on decontaminating soil.

Chen noted in his report that 16.1 percent of China's soil and 19.4 percent of arable land have been contaminated.

Wang Shuyi, director of the Environment Law Research Institute at Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Monday that the data in the report came from a survey conducted from 2005 to 2013, which involved samples from 6.3 million square kilometers of land.

"Authorities need to update the database.  A more detailed study on soil pollution would help identify pollutants, carry out management and control measures on contaminated soil and make regulations and laws," said Wang.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Land and Resources jointly released a report on the state of soil nationwide in April 2014.

According to the report, soil pollution is severe in three major industrial regions - the old industrial area in Northeast China, East China's Yangtze River Delta and South China's Pearl River Delta - and some regions in China have suffered deteriorating soil quality due to exposure to extensive industrial development and toxic emissions.

Cadmium, nickel and arsenic are the top pollutants detected in soil samples, and about 82.8 percent of polluted soil was contaminated by inorganic materials, according to the report.

"Long periods of extensive industrial development, toxic emissions of factories and huge amounts of solid waste are the main reasons for soil contamination," Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Monday.

Urgent need for regulations

Ma said soil pollution could lead to serious consequences, including surface and groundwater contamination affecting plants and animals, and deteriorating arable land.

"The most severe effect of soil pollution is that it affects our health if we live in apartments built on contaminated soil, or eat food grown from it," said Ma.

An April 17 report on China Central Television (CCTV) said that 493 students from Changzhou Foreign Language School, Jiangsu Province, developed abnormal blood illnesses ranging from dermatitis and eczema to leukemia and lymphoma.

The report said that the school has been built next to a former toxic waste dump and that water and soil contamination caused the students' illnesses.

Although Changzhou authorities cited water and soil monitoring data and testing results to refute the CCTV report, saying no large amounts of chemicals and contamination were detected, it did not ease the anger and concerns of parents and the public.

"Laws on soil protection are needed to prevent similar events and they could help ascertain where the responsibility lies," Xia Jun, a lawyer with the Environment and Resources Law Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association, told the Global Times.

 "Remediating contaminated soil is difficult and requires huge financial investments. China needs to strengthen legislative work and strict law enforcement and supervision to reduce soil pollution," said Xia.

Regulations and laws could ensure that companies which cause soil contamination would be responsible for decontaminating the soil and preventing further pollution, said Xia.

Local governments should also update their information on soil decontamination to avoid similar incidents, said Ma.

Authorities are finalizing a Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, and it may be carried out in May, news portal cnstock.com reported on Monday.

The Hubei People's Congress approved the "Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Regulation of Hubei Province" in February, making it the first local regulation dealing with soil pollution in China.