Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has demanded action after a pollution crisis in China's third-largest lake led to the contamination of drinking water for millions, state press said Tuesday. "The pollution of Taihu Lake has sounded the alarm for us," various media outlets quoted Wen as telling an environmental meeting held by China's cabinet on Monday. He asked the participants, including officials from central and local governments, environmental workers, scholars and researchers, to investigate the water crisis and come up with concrete measures to protect the lake.
A poisonous algae bloom in Taihu lake in late May contaminated water supplies for several days for more than 2.3 million people in eastern China's lakeside city of Wuxi.
The crisis -- the result of years of industrial pollution and untreated sewage discharge -- sparked panic hoarding of bottled water drinking supplies and again highlighted a nationwide water problem. More than 70 percent of China's waterways and 90 percent of its underground water are contaminated by pollution, according to government figures.
Wen said although some efforts to reduce pollution at the lake had been made in recent years, "the problem had never been tackled at its root." This month, authorities ordered towns around Taihu to shut down all polluting factories and meet new water emission standards by the end of June 2008.
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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Chinese_Premier_Wants_Action_On_Taihu_Lake_Pollution_999.html
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