| Quality
of water in 3 Gorges still high (11/14/2002)
Water quality in the reservoir areas of the Three Gorges dam remains
good following the successful damming of a diversion canal last
Wednesday.
Statistics from two automatic water quality monitoring stations,
located at each end of the reservoir area, show that water quality
has undergone hardly any changes.
"Water quality at each end has stayed at grade one or grade
two," said Wan Bentai, head of the China National Environmental
Monitoring Centre.
Water quality is usually classified in five grades, with grade
one representing the best quality and grade five the worst.
Efforts are being made to curb possible water pollution in the
reservoir areas, said Hong Yaxiong, an official with the Planning
and Financial Department of the State Environmental Protection Administration.
According to Hong, 19 sewage treatment plants will be completed
in the reservoir areas of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality
before next June, when the reservoir starts to preserve water. There
will be four built in Central China's Hubei Province by that deadline.
In addition, 13 garbage treatment plants will be built in Chongqing,
and four in Hubei by June.
The projects will need a total of more than 3.7 billion yuan (US$450
million) of investment. Construction of most of the plants has already
kicked off, Hong said. He added that 12 townships in Chongqing and
eight in Hubei along the Yangtze River have completed their preparations
for building sewage and garbage treatment plants.
The Three Gorges Project is scheduled to be completed in 2009.
The second phase includes filling the Three Gorges Reservoir, commencing
navigation, and generating electricity by 2003.
(China Daily)
|
