Today Online 15 Nov 07;
BEIJING — A record 30.5 billion tons of waste was dumped last year into China's Yangtze River, state media said.
The quantity was twice as much as two decades ago and an increase of 900 million tons, or 3.1 per cent, from that of the previous year, the Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
The widespread dumping of industrial, agricultural and domestic waste has seriously polluted the Yangtze. Some ecologists warn this will be worsened by the massive Three Gorges dam, which they say will create a "giant toilet bowl" of trapped sewage behind it.
The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydro-electric project, was built partly to control flooding along the Yangtze.
Xinhua also reported that 600 people died because of floods and other disasters in the Yangtze River basin during this year's rainy season from May to October. The disasters affected about 90 million people and destroyed 440,000 houses.
The Asian Development Bank last month warned that water pollution in China, driven by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, had reached "alarming" levels.
Xinhua, quoting a study by the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, said 2006 was the first year sewage dumping had increased by less than 5 per cent. A joint Swiss-Chinese report said earlier this month that Yangtze pollution was "enormous" but added the ecological damage could be reversed if the government took aggressive steps.
Numerous unique species have been driven to the brink of extinction in the river, including the white-fin dolphin and Yangtze River sturgeon.
Officials have reported frequent landslides along the Yangtze's banks, believed to be caused by the growing reservoir behind The Three Gorges Dam. — AGENCIES
China Pumps Record Sewage Into Longest River
PlanetArk 15 Nov 07
BEIJING - China, where water shortages are compounded by pollution, pumped a record 30.5 billion tonnes of sewage and industrial waste into the Yangtze, its longest river, last year, state media said on Wednesday.
Decades of heavy industrialisation have made water from some of China's lakes and rivers so polluted it is no longer usable, with untreated waste pumped directly into water sources.
The amount of sewage discharged into the river was an increase of 900 million tonnes or 3.1 percent over 2005, Hu Jiajun, a spokesman for the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
Sewage discharged into the river had risen from 15 billion tonnes at the end of the 1980s and 24 billion tonnes in 2000, the agency said. (Reporting by Nick Macfie; editing by Jerry Norton)
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As China's mega dam rises, so do strains and fear
Chris Buckley, Yahoo News 14 Nov 07;
