More Efforts to Control Pollution in High Plateau LakeSouthwest China's Yunnan Province will work harder this year to curb the pollution in the high plateau Lake Dianchi.A set of regulations to protect the lake's environment will be worked out this year, and water quality monitoring stations will be established around the lake. Loans from the World Bank will be used to build a sewage treatment plant in Kunming, capital of the province. The industrial and living waste water from the city are major sources of the lake's pollution. Other environmental protection efforts include research on blue algae control technology, afforestation at the water source of the lake, soil erosion prevention, and dredging of silt in the lake. The Dianchi Lake, covering 307 square kilometers, is China's sixth-largest freshwater lake, and plays a key role in the ecological environment in Kunming. However, the lake's water has become murky from the large amount of industrial and domestic waste discharged into it over the last 20 years, and fast-increasing algae is also clogging it up. In 1997, the Chinese government listed Dianchi Lake as a key part of a project to protect the "three rivers and three lakes" (Liaohe, Huaihe and Haihe rivers, and Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes). The government has earmarked billions of yuan to protect the lake's environment from deteriorating, and has achieved some good results. But environmental experts say completely ending the pollution will require constant efforts over a long period of time. |
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