South China Morning Post
April 19, 2006

A widely publicised effort to clean up the Huai River has failed, according to a whistle-blowing official who contradicted glowing reports published in the People’s Daily.

Beijing – A widely publicised effort to clean up the Huai River has failed, according to a whistle-blowing official who contradicted glowing reports published in the People’s Daily. The three-year programme to rid the Huai River and its tributaries of pollutants endangering drinking water for 150 million people was hailed as a triumph when it ended in December. Last week, the People’s Daily said the river met standards set by the State Council, meaning it was at least “grade-three” quality – good enough for industrial use but not for drinking. But Professor Su Kiasheng, of Huainan Industrial College and a vice-chairman of Anhui’s People’s Political Consultative Conference, claimed in the Worker’s Daily that the water was still seriously polluted. “It is a long way from reaching the State Council’s standards,” he wrote, adding that the discharge of pollutants last year more than doubled government targets. He said the river quality in Anhui province was grade five – the very lowest and unsuitable even for irrigation. Enterprises discharging waste into the river are reportedly responsible for economic losses totalling 50 million yuan (HK$47 million). Professor Su said he had just completed an investigation on the provinces of Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong, through which the Huai River flows. “What the People’s Daily reported is not true. Soon after the article ran, there was a serious dispute among the paper’s staff. The People’s Daily Shanghai bureau shares my views,” he said. “To meet the State Council’s targets, some provinces gave false figures and made false reports to the central Government.