East China's Jiangsu province plans to invest 14.6 billion yuan (US$1.76 billion) in the coming five years to clean up Taihu Lake, one of China's five major fresh-water lakes.
Officials with Jiangsu Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau said the province will build 65 wastewater treatment plantswith a combined capacity of handling 1.66 million tons of wastewater per day in cities and towns adjacent to the lake.
The lake faces worsening pollution due to massive inflow of industrial and agricultural waste from nearby areas.
Treatment centers for garbage and dangerous solid waste will bebuilt in four prosperous, rapidly-industrializing cities of Changshu, Kunshan, Suzhou and Wuxi. By 2002, major polluting industrial firms surrounding the lake, such as chemical plants, feather processing plants, pharmaceuticalfirms and dyeing plants, will be ordered to restructure their production so as to reduce pollutant discharge, said the officials.
Sixty-two plants discharging huge amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen will be ordered to reduce their total discharge by a set date.
An excessive amount of phosphorous and nitrogen in the lake hasbeen blamed for rampant outbreak of algae in the lake, which threatened marine life.
A large amount of algae can consume the oxygen in the water andcause a severe oxygen depletion, which can kill marine life and turn the lake into a foul-smelling, dead water body.
Among the measures to be taken in the drainage area of the lake,a vegetation belt of vines, shrubs and grass, 300 km by 500 meters,will be built around the water to reduce the inflow of materials harmful to the ecology.
The province also plans to limit aquatic farming in the lake and use of chemical fertilizers in farmland in the vicinity.
(eastday.com 10/05/2001)
