China to spend $14.4 billion clean up polluted lake
mongabay.com
October 29, 2007
China will spend $14.4 billion to clean up one of the country’s largest and most polluted lakes, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.
Lake Tai, the country’s third largest lake once known for its fishing, made international earlier this year when sewage, industrial dumping and run-off triggered an explosion of noxious bright green algae. The bloom caused a panic over drinking water supplies in the nearby city of Wuxi.
While authorities attempted to initially dismiss the concerns, local media soon showed images of factories dumping industrial waste directly into the lake. More than 2,800 chemical factories line the lake.
The Chinese government estimates that roughly 300 of the country’s cities face water shortages while untreated sewage and industrial waste pollute around 70% of China’s rivers.