Concerns remain over water safety
By Li Jing | China Daily | Updated: 2008-12-25 07:43
About a quarter of China's 4,555 centralized drinking water sources - rivers, lakes, reservoirs and underground reserves - are contaminated and pose a threat to people's health, Environmental Protection Minister Zhou Shengxian said yesterday.
He made the comments while reporting on the country's progress on water pollution at a plenary session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing.
Much of the contamination is due to high levels of elements such as nitrogen and phosphorous, a senior official with the environment ministry said.
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