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The eastern coastal areas of China have high-density population, developed society and economy, and large water pollution emissions. How to reduce water pollution and realize the coordinated development of the economy and environment has become the national focus. Effective environmental policies should consider regional differences in development stage and sustainability performance. Here, we first analyzed the water pollution emissions intensity of the eastern coastal areas of China and the urgency of emissions reduction using 8-year environmental statistics from 2003 to 2010. We characterized development stages of the eastern coastal areas based on the relationships between water pollution emissions intensity and economic development. Further, we built a coordination degree index of economic development and water environment protection as a measure of sustainability. Results show that water pollution emissions intensity decreases as the economy grows from 2003 to 2010. The less-developed regions have a better coordination degree than some more-developed regions, especially those most-developed ones (e.g., Shanghai show more pressures on long-term sustainability than Hebei). The less-developed regions should take advantage of economic growth to invest more advanced environment protection technologies. The more-developed regions need to upgrade its economic structures and municipal infrastructures. Overall, the study provided a comprehensive approach to understand regional difference in development stage and sustainability performance in the eastern coastal region of China as well as the need of different environmental policies to reduce water pollution emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is an urgent challenge to coordinate industrialization and air quality in China since the rapid industrialization over the past forty years caused serious air pollution. In this paper, we measured the industrialization levels of the 31 regions in China from 2003 to 2017 as a sum of per capita gross domestic product (GDP), urban population (% of total), tertiary vs. secondary industry output ratio, non-agricultural output value (% of GDP), non-agricultural employment proportion, and the proportion of added value of manufacturing in the total added value of commodity. We measured air quality as a sum of annual SO 2 , NO 2 and PM 10 concentrations. In general, the industrialization level continuously increased while air pollution was reduced in spite of some fluctuations in China. Our results show air pollution presented N-shape relations with the industrialization level in China in the periods from 2003 to 2008, 2009 to 2013, and 2014 to 2017. Air pollution increases as the industrialization occurs but later deceases as the industrialization level improves. However, air pollution rebounds as the industrialization moves further but this rebound became weaker in recent years. With the association rule mining, we identified ranges of the six indicators for industrialization associated with good and poor air quality, respectively. Using industrialization indicators associated with poor air quality as references, we pointed out differentiated strategies for regions to coordinate the industrialization and air quality protection. • We analyzed industrialization progress & air quality from 2003 to 2017 in China. • Air pollution in China exhibits N-shape relations with industrialization level. • We mined association rules between industrialization indicators and air quality. • Summary of industrialization indicator ranges associated with good/poor air quality. • Differential strategy by region to coordinate development & air quality protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]