China cut its emissions of water pollution and acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide in the first half of this year, as Beijing closed dirty power plants and the global economic crisis hit heavy industry, state media said on Tuesday. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measure of water pollution, dropped by 2.5 percent from the same period last year as new sewage plants came online, while sulfur dioxide emissions were down 4.0 percent, Xinhua agency said. The government shuttered small, dirty power plants with over 8 gigawatts of capacity. Desulfurization equipment was also added at plants with 40.6 GW of installed capacity, although that increase still represents well under 10 percent of the country's plant capacity.
