CA21 Update - Progress on China's Agenda 21

Government to back lake clean-up

Dianchi Lake in Kunming, one of the most polluted lakes in China, will get help from municipal and central governments to improve water quality, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced April 03 in Beijing.

The ministry and Yunnan provincial government plan to spend 50 million yuan (US$6 million) to look for ways to minimize water pollution.

The money will be used to develop technologies for reducing urban and industrial pollutants and quick-spreading blue green algae, said Vice-Minister Deng Nan.

Dianchi is the biggest lake in Yunnan. Given the area's rapid urbanization and population growth, water quality has deteriorated over the past few years.

Another clean-up project for Dianchi Lake, approved by the State Council in the early 1990s, is already in full swing. With more than 3 billion yuan (US$361 million) being spent on the project, pollution of the lake has been reduced considerably, said the Vice-Governor of Yunnan Chen Xunru.

But thick blue-green algae and fertilizer and pesticide pollution are still problems, said Chen.

To address these issues, the Ministry of Science and Technology and Yunnan provincial government invited bidding on clean-up projects early this year.

The Aquatic Organism Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences will lead the effort to control the blue-green algae, according to the ministry's Department of Rural and Social Development.

Qinghua University will undertake the project of reducing fertilizer and pesticide pollution, said the department.

photographs of clean-up projects for Dianchi Lake