Battle against pollution 'paying off'

The country's battle to curb pollution is paying off, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said yesterday.

It said in the first half, there was further reduction in the discharge of major pollutants.

Emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which belches from smokestacks and causes acid rain, fell by 3.96 percent compared to the same period last year, while the chemical oxygen demand (COD), a measure of water pollution, dropped by 2.48 percent.