The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help improve the ecology
of Baiyangdian Lake, the largest freshwater lake in north China,
with a loan of US$96 million, according to the local
government.
The ADB loan will be used to support the efforts of
Hebei Province to tackle pollution and promote environmental
protection in Baiyangdian Lake, according to the government of
Baoding, a city in Hebei on Wednesday.
According to a technical assistance agreement signed between ADB
and the Baoding authorities, evaluation of the current
environmental situation in the lake will begin on May 8 and will be
completed in seven months.
The ADB-funded project has been listed as a key environment
protection project in Hebei provincial government's five-year plan
that ends in 2010.
Baiyangdian, covers about 366 square kilometers and consists of
143 small lakes. It provides clean fresh water to millions of
people in the cities of Beijing and
Tianjin and helps balance the local ecology.
Baiyangdian, known as the "Bright pearl of north China", has
been haunted by water shortages caused by drought and pollution in
recent years.
In March this year, large quantities of fish died in the lake
due to serious water pollution.
Currently, the local government has closed 218 enterprises that
discharge pollutants into the lake, and diverted 50 million cubic
meters of water from nearby reservoirs into Baiyangdian to improve
its ecology. Several officials held responsible for the water
pollution were sacked.
The water quality in Baiyangdian now is good enough for fish
farming, said Gao Jianbo, head of the general office of Anxin
county government where Baiyangdian is located.
Anxin county has got the go-ahead from the central government to
carry out a sewage treatment project in the Baiyangdian wetland
nature reserve.
The project will treat sewage and waste water from local
industries and purify the lake water to improve the ecological
environment, which will cost about 7.5 million yuan (US$937,500).
The project has been included in the country's blueprint to improve
water resources along the Haihe River and improve the ecosystem in
Baiyangdian Lake.
The Chinese central government early this year earmarked 4
million yuan, or US$500,000, for a water treatment project in
Baiyangdian.
The water treatment project will reduce the density of organic
pollutants and remove some nutriment and heavy metals contained in
the lake water. It is designed to treat 30,000 tons of water
daily.
(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2006)