Controlling air and water pollution in main cities and limiting deteriorating water quality in the Bohai and East China seas will be a tough task, according to the latest government environmental report.
Delivering an assessment yesterday on China's environmental protection record for 2004, State Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa) deputy director Wang Yuqing said overall air quality in urban cities was poor, with more than half the mainland cities surveyed being affected by acid rain and high concentrations of breathable particles.
Citing the Sepa report, Mr Wang said that although great emphasis was put on improving air quality in Beijing ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, the capital remained one of the worst-polluted cities.
Beijing is the fifth most polluted mainland city in the Sepa's list of 47 main centres, surpassed only by Chongqing , Urumqi , Taiyuan and Lanzhou .
'From 1994 to 2003, emissions of air pollutants from industrial sources in China increased dramatically each year. This is closely related to the steady growth of the national economy,' the report said.
The water quality of the most important rivers did not improve much last year, with the Haihe - a main source of fresh water for Beijing and Tianjin - remaining the most polluted, the report said.
'The East China Sea and the Bohai Sea remain heavily polluted and last year we saw a trend of further degradation,' Mr Wang said.
