Vice-Premier on Taihu Lake Pollution ControlChinese Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday called for effective measures to further curb the water pollution in Taihu Lake.By the year 2005, the water quality of Taihu Lake should have a distinct improvement, said Wen at a work conference on pollution control of the Taihu basin. The Taihu basin is one of the most densely populated and economically developed regions in China. The Chinese government has made pollution control in this area a key program in the current five-year development plan that ends in 2005. Wen pointed out that sewage disposal facilities should be increased so that the urban sewage disposal rate will reach 70 percent by 2005. The discharge of industrial waste water should be further controlled and enterprises causing serious pollution must be shut down. Meanwhile, he said, pollution from agricultural production, which has become a major obstacle for further improvements in water quality, should be curbed. Also, fresh water from the Yangtze River should be directed into Taihu Lake and the silt on the bottom should be gradually removed in order to improve the water quality, he said. |
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