Northwest China's Lanzhou, known as one of the most polluted
cities in the world, plans to spend 130 million yuan (US$16.9
million) this year to fight pollution in the Yellow River, which
runs through the city.
The money will be used to upgrade the facilities of Yan'erwan
Waste Water Treatment Plant, the largest in Lanzhou, expand the
urban waste water pipe network and install monitoring devices to
ascertain the city's main polluters, according to Wu Jide, vice
mayor of Lanzhou City.
The Yellow River has a 152-km stretch in Lanzhou, including 45
kilometers in downtown Lanzhou. The river is the major water source
for the city, which has an urban population of about two
million.
The city discharged about 160 million tons of waste water into
the river, including 42 million tons from industrial enterprises in
2006.
By 2010, 70 percent of waste water in the city will undergo
treatment and industrial and household waste flowing to the river
will meet environmental requirements, said Wu.
The 5,464-km-long Yellow River, running west to east in northern
China, has been plagued by worsening pollution, with more than 66
percent of the water undrinkable, according to a report on Yellow
River Water Resources released last year.
More than 4.35 billion tons of waste water was dumped into the
Yellow River in 2005, about 88 million tons more than that of 2004,
according to the report.
The country is planning to build six more automatic water
quality monitoring stations along the river by 2010 to help control
its worsening pollution situation.
(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2007)
