Billions of Yuan Spent Controlling Taihu Lake PollutionEast China's Jiiansu, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai Municipality have invested a total of 12 billion yuan to clean up Tailu, the nation's third-largest freshwater lake, since 1997.As a result, the lake's water quality has improved, according to the inspection results released by the State Environmental Protection Administration. Jiiansu Province has established major production centers to turn out high quality paper, while shutting down many small paper-making mills, thus reducing the discharge of pollutants from the paper-making industry by 50 percent, with economic returns quadruped. Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, has been carrying out the policy of eliminating industrial sector in the lake region, which has been a major source of pollution, while vigorously expanding the service sector. Shanghai, China's largest manufacturing center, has strengthened legislation and strictly enforced laws to protect water resources. It has also made sure that the eight major enterprises included in the Water Pollution Prevention Plan of the Lake Region shall meet the state standards for pollutant discharge. The region has put 30 new water treatment into operation, and built 200 eco-agricultural demonstration zones. All the 57 livestock farms and 6,000 pig farms in the Taihu Class-1 Protection Zone have brought pollution under control or have been relocated. Water quality of the rivers flowing into and out of the lake has improved after the completion of most dredging projects. The sale of phosphorus-containing detergent has been banned in the Taihu Lake region, reducing phosphate discharge by 16 percent. |
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