China's continued economic advancement last year did not come at a heavy cost to the environment, a report released yesterday by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) shows.
According to SEPA, the environmental situation throughout China basically remained unchanged from the previous 12 months, while the nation's gross domestic product growth rate reached 8 per cent in 2002 and the natural population growth rate stood at 6.45 per 1,000.
As for water resources, statistics show more than 70 per cent of the country's seven major rivers were polluted to various degrees as of last year.
The Haihe River was rated as the most polluted, followed by the Liaohe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Songhua River, Pearl River and Yangtze River.
Meanwhile, some major lakes are facing dour nitrogen and phosphorus pollution problems. Of the three under closest SEPA scrutiny, Caohai, part of the Dianchi Lake in Yunnan Province, is in the most serious condition, while Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake are slightly better.
On a more positive note, the water quality in the country's inland rivers, those in Southwest China and in East China's Zhejiang and Fujian provinces are "quite good."
Moreover, the quality of underground water in most Chinese regions is regarded as being in a good condition, with only some sections suffering from pollution to varying degrees.
China will start a three-year nationwide campaign to crack down on the illegal discharging of pollution later this month, SEPA Minister Xie Zhenhua said yesterday during the release of the annual report in Beijing.
Since the theme of this year's World Environment Day, which fell yesterday, highlights the importance of water resources, the first phase of the upcoming campaign will focus on purifying China's natural sources of water and their surrounding environments.
(China Daily June 7, 2003)
