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Reuters

China launched nearly 8,000 water clean-up projects in the first half of 2017 with a projected total investment of 667.4 billion yuan (US$100.2 billion), the environment ministry said on Thursday.
The projects were devised as part of a 2015 action plan to treat and prevent water pollution, and covered 325 contaminated groundwater sites across the country, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a notice.

A total of 343 contaminated sites had been identified, meaning that 95 per cent had drawn up plans to bring water quality up to required standards, it said.
Dumping of untreated acid in Chinese canal highlights nation’s water pollution woes
However, it said that some regions were still behind schedule when it came to meeting their 2017 water pollution goals.
Large amounts of China’s water have been rendered unusable as a result of poorly regulated industrial expansion, overmining and the uncontrolled use of pesticides and fertilisers.
With China desperate to increase supplies to guarantee future food and energy security, the government promised in 2015 to make significant improvements to the country’s major waterways and curb untreated waste water from highly polluting sectors like mining, steelmaking, textiles, printing and oil refining.
Southern China’s million-tonne raw sewage problem
The environment ministry said this month that overall water quality had improved in the first half of the year, although some regions registered an increase in substandard samples over the period.
China grades its water in six bands, with the lowest “below grade 5” considered unusable even for industrial or irrigation purposes, and described as “black and stinky”.

Of 2,100 “black and stinky” sites identified, 44.1 per cent had completed treatment projects in the first half of the year, the ministry said, adding that the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning and Anhui had fallen behind.
China admits patchy progress tackling soil, water pollution, with some rivers worsening
In a bid to protect rural water supplies, China also identified 636,000 square kilometres of land that would be made off limits to animal husbandry, and it shut 213,000 livestock and poultry farms in the first six months.
The ministry also said 809 new household sewage treatment facilities were built in the first half, but added that the regions of Tianjin, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Hubei and Guangdong were behind schedule.
Air pollution getting worse in north China even as government tries to crack down
Beijing said on Wednesday that it had already appointed 200,000 “river chiefs” throughout the country as part of a new system aimed at making local officials more accountable when it comes to improving water quality and curbing pollution.


China starts 8,000 water clean-up projects worth US$100 billion in first half of year

A boy lies in an algae-covered lake in Qingdao, Shandong province. Photo: Reuters

A man drives a boat along a river polluted by leaked fuel, in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, China, April 29, 2015. China will ban water-polluting paper mills, oil refineries, pesticide producers and other industrial plants by the end of 2016, as it moves to tackle severe pollution of the country's water supply. The long-awaited plan comes as the central government steps up its "war on pollution" after years of industrial development that have left one-third of China's major river basins and 60 percent of its underground water contaminated. Picture taken April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

Scores of dead fish float on Tuo Lake in Wuhe county, Anhui province. More than 10 million kilograms of fish and crabs died in the province's Tuo Lake and Tianjing Lake because of water pollution, state media reported. 新�社照片，�肥，2015年7月6日 9��水域�“醬油湖� 近�戶�民�“生態劫�——�民�失誰來承擔？ �民在天井湖查看死魚數�（7月3日�）。 6月底，安徽�五河縣沱湖�天井湖�域9.2��的水域��嚴�污染，魚類�河蟹等水產�死亡2000多�斤，涉��民907戶，其中專業養殖戶220戶，直接經濟�失1.9億元。 近日，記者乘船在沱湖�天井湖湖�上看到，湖水呈黑�色，大片死魚漂浮堆�在湖�上。由於天氣炎熱，死魚已開始�爛，污水堬V雜著腥臭，氣味刺鼻。 天井湖幸��業養殖�作社多��民告訴記者，他們2014年投放的魚苗指望今年中秋節魚兒長大賣個好價錢，眼看著�收穫了�血本無歸。據�步估算，該�作社20戶專業養殖戶�失上��元。為了減少�失，當地�民開始�魚拋售，中秋節�計能賣�斤6元的�魚�在�賣1元。 �於這場��其來的“生態劫難�，五河縣環��水利部門�為上游安徽泗縣境內大�濃度超標的污水團下泄是造�沱湖�天井湖水質��污染的直接原因，而安徽泗縣環�部門則�為�能是安徽北部連續多日的強�水沖刷產生的��污染造�的。上下游�於責任歸屬�執一詞，責任主體尚未確�，事故�責陷入僵局，��民�失的賠償也無法�實到�。 新�社記者 劉�喜� Pictured taken on Jul. 3, 2015, shows dead fish the Tuohu Lake (or Tuo Lake), in Wuhe county, Anhui province. Due to sudden lake water pollution, over 10 million kg fish and crabs in the Tuohu Lake and Tianjing Lake died. (Xinhua china

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Schemes covering 325 contaminated groundwater sites were part of a 2015 action plan to tackle water pollution


China starts 8,000 water clean-up projects worth US$100 billion in first half of year

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Schemes covering 325 contaminated groundwater sites were part of a 2015 action plan to tackle water pollution

Schemes covering 325 contaminated groundwater sites were part of a 2015 action plan to tackle water pollution