Associated Press
February 15, 2001

China is heading for a water pollution crisis as a booming economy raises industrial discharges and the number of incidents of toxic chemicals being spilled into rivers rises, a top environmental regulator said Thursday. More than 300 million people in rural China already lack access to water considered clean enough to drink, said Pan Yue, deputy minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration. China has recorded 70 pollution incidents in rivers since a chemical plant accident in November poisoned the Songhua River in the northeast and forced a major city to temporarily shut down its drinking water system, Pan said. “The environmental crisis, particularly for water, is coming to China earlier than expected,” Pan said in an interview with a visiting group of American newspaper editors. … Read the full story.