LIKE most of the major waterways in China, Shanghai's Huangpu River has been seriously polluted, with oxygen levels decreasing to zero in many sections of its watercourse.
And statistics for last year showed that less than one-third of the total length of the river could meet even the country's third-grade surface water standard, which is the lowest level of potable water.
Lu Shuping, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, told a conference on environment and urban growth in Hong Kong this month that the pollution index of the river had already exceeded permissible limits.
Huangpu, the largest river in Shanghai, serves as the main source of water supply, liquid waste discharge, flood drainage and irrigation of the municipality.
Ms Lu said the river started becoming polluted as early as the late 1950s. the problem had become serious in the early '60s and worse in the early '80s.
Industrial effluent from Shanghai's more than 10,000 factories accounts for 65 per cent of the 5.63 million tonnes of liquid wastes which are discharged from the city every day, she said.
'The factories are characterised by backward production processes, high consumption of energy and raw materials. And most of them are located in the urban area,' Ms Lu said.