Countryside 'shadowed' by pollution

Just a few steps from Huang's home is the Liuyang River, which runs across Hunan province.

But despite his proximity to the river, for the past 10 years, Huang has been forced to use bottled water for drinking and his daily chores. So too have his fellow residents of the town of Baijia, which has neither a tap water supply nor a wastewater treatment facility.

As a result, wastewater is flushed directly into the river, along with pollutants from factories upstream. Not surprisingly, the townsfolk are reluctant to drink from it.