An official from the Ministry of Water Resources said recently
at a symposium that what was clear about China's current ecological
problems was water pollution of lakes in east regions and their
shrinkage in west regions. The ministry and the Chinese Academy of
Sciences are losing no time in working out a “Sound Lake Indices
System” which will be used in a general assessment of all the
Chinese lakes.
Xu Xinyi, an official with the Water Resources Department of the
ministry, made these remarks at the Lake Protection and Qinghai
Lake's Sustainable Development Symposium held from August 4 to 7 in
Xining, western China's
Qinghai Province. Xu said there were both objective and
subjective reasons for the current ecological problems with
lakes.
But, Xu explained, it was the subjective reasons which were
playing the major role. Unreasonable utilization of water resources
had caused the disappearance of many lakes. Guided by the idea that
"grain production is of the top priority", water from many lakes
was used excessively for irrigation. In addition waste water and
pollution had led to other ecological problems.
According to Wen Kegang, deputy director of the Committee of
Population, Resources and Environment of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
70 percent of Chinese lakes had been polluted and 75 percent had
suffered eutrophication to varying degrees.
To cope with these problems, the Ministry of Water Resources and
the National Reform and Development Commission were issuing a
Development Plan for a Water-saving Society in the near future.
The water rights regulations were also been being promoted
actively, Xu said. At present, the public is not very concerned
about water protection because governments take responsibility for
most of the undertakings. If the regulations are implemented, the
ownership of water rights could be clarified and the protection of
the resource would receive wider support and utilization would be
more efficient.
“In the past, more attention has been paid to water for living
and industrial uses but water in the natural environment was
neglected,” said Xu. Projects which allow cultivated land to revert
to lakes and forests to water would be launched in some areas so as
to reduce human interference in water resources and preserve a
sound lake ecology, he explained.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, August 10, 2006)