Cities Along Yangtze River to Step Up Protection of River

Twenty-six cities along the longest river in China launched an initiative Sunday to join efforts to better protect the Yangtze.

The Yangtze flows through 7 provinces and two municipalities, and is more than 6,300 kilometers long. With the construction of the Three Gorges Power Project and the development of Shanghai's Pudong District, the river valley has become one of the fastest economic growth regions in China.

However, economic development has also brought heavy pollution to the river. Statistics indicate that in 1999, more than 20 billion tons of sewage was drained into the river, accounting for 34 percent of the country's total sewage.

The initiative called on all the cities along the river to take concrete measures to reduce pollution to the minimum level for the sustainable economic and social developments in the region.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/