Some Chinese media have exaggerated the density of blue algae in Taihu Lake, east China's Jiangsu Province, said a source from China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
"Recent reports carried by some media on the so-called 'worst pollution in Taihu Lake since the 1980s' have deviated from facts, " the SEPA official told a press conference here Tuesday.
Recent surveys have shown that average density of blue and green algae in the lake from mid May to mid July was below 25 million per liter, similar to that of the same period last year, said the official.
In mid August, the average density was slightly higher than the year-ago period, but has fallen below last year's average since late August, he said.
In the most polluted waters, blue algae once reportedly reached 384 million per liter this year, still much lower than the 760 million per liter in 1990, when Taihu Lake reported the worst pollution, said the SEPA official
(China Daily 09/11/2001)
