BEIJING, April 17 -- A detailed action plan to fight water pollution in China bodes well for a nation troubled by dirty waterways.

Announced on Thursday by the State Council, China's cabinet, the plan is aimed at improving drinking water and promoting water conservation.

Doom mongers may point to the fact that more exacting requirements on polluting companies will probably force some of them to close. In the long term though, the plan is expected to fuel economic growth, not slow it.

A BLESSING AMID PAIN

Alarm bells are sounding for small, outdated factories in sectors including paper, insecticides and tanning, which have been ordered to shut down by the end of 2016.

However, calls for bigger facilities in these sectors to update their technology to meet emission requirements and a target for clearer water in major river valleys by 2020 present unprecedented business opportunities for companies related to environmental protection.

Li Jie, a researcher in environmental science and engineering with Shanghai's Tongji University, said the action plan will hurt polluting enterprises in the short term, but they must face up to an irreversible trend toward closer environmental scrutiny of their operations.

Many small plants operate without any pollution controls or treatment. It is these operations that will be hit hardest.

Meanwhile, Li said, the action plan will bring business opportunities to the green industry, as enterprises are pushed to take more responsibility for their emissions, driving demand for equipment designed to limit pollution.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), implementation of the new measures will increase GDPby 5.7 trillion yuan (about 910 billion U.S. dollars) and create 3.9 million urban jobs.

Sewage treatment businesses will be the first to benefit, said Li, referring to the plan's target to see dark and odorous water in urban areas eliminated by 2030.

Xia Guang, director of the MEP's Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy, said the action plan will create new customers for both domestic green enterprises and foreign ones.

Foreign firms have already taken a sizable share of the pollution treatment market.