west-lake.jpg (Photo : www.panoramio.com)
China has released an action plan detailing measures the government will take to protect the country's lakes from pollution.
The document, approved by the State Council in December last year and published on Tuesday, detailed actions to be taken between 2013 and 2020 to protect 365 lakes in China that have been identified as having sound quality.
The plan was jointly released by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance.
Avoiding the "treatment after pollution" method previously used by the government, the action plan will focus on the ecology of the lakes' entire basin rather than paying attention only to water quality, according to Zheng Binghui, deputy director of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.
The measures will be implemented in five major areas, including northeast China, east China, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang regions.
These areas are known to have sound-quality lakes.
Priority will also be given to lakes that serve as major drinking water sources and those that perform ecological functions.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced this year that 17 of China's 31 major freshwater lakes are "slightly" or "moderately" polluted, while the Dianchi Lake in southwest China's Yunnan Provice was listed as "severely" polluted.
In addition, China is also facing a water deficit problem, with the country lacking more 50 billion cubic meters every year, according to Chen Ming, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.
Economic development and the global climate change could aggravate the situation, the official said.
The mindless pursuit of profits by companies and some local governments are to blame for the water pollution, according to experts.
Experts have urged comprehensive protection of water bodies as well as forests and farming lands.
