Prominent city lakes fail water safety test

Three lakes in Beijing were seriously polluted in October, the Beijing municipal water resources bureau website said on Nov 12.

Water quality in Chaoyang Park Lake, Honglingjin Lake and Lianhuachi Lake was revealed to be class V1, meaning the water is completely unusable. The lakes do not form part of the city's drinking water supply.

"The pollution is mainly from domestic sewage," said Ma Jun, director of a green NGO-Institute of the Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing which has released a China water pollution map annually since 2006.