Cleanup incomplete

Huo at Huaihe River Guardian said the government became aware of the pollution in the river in the early 1990s and has been dealing with the problem since then.

As early as 1993, a report by the State Environmental Protection Administration (now the Ministry of Environmental Protection) warned that pollutants in 82 percent of its reaches were above safe levels in low water seasons.

In July 1994, about 200 million cubic meters of polluted water were discharged upstream due to continuous rain, killing fish and causing water shortages for almost 1 million people.

The State Council issued a guideline in 1996 that required four provincial governments to clean up the Huaihe River by 2000.

More than 10 years after that deadline, the goal is yet to be achieved, Huo said, although the water quality has improved from Grade 5, the lowest level, to Grade 4, which qualifies it for landscape water though it remains undrinkable.

The amount of harmful elements in the Huaihe River is still much higher than the standard, he said, and nearby soil has been badly affected.

Huo urged authorities not to prioritize economic growth over the environment by turning a blind eye to faulty sewage discharges, nor act as an umbrella for polluters.

A Shenqiu environmental protection bureau official who did not want to be identified said the county government has shut down hundreds of small factories, including paper manufacturers and fertilizer producers, to protect the Huaihe River.

Two sewage treatment plants have been built and most industrial wastewater is now processed in line with government rules, he said.

However, the official added, the main sources of pollution - villagers' household sewage and waste from livestock farms - remain difficult to supervise.

The progress so far has done little to help allay the fears of villagers living near the river.

People are worried about their health, but they feel powerless to do anything, said Guo Xinxiang in Wafang.

"We want to file a lawsuit to claim compensation, but we don't even know who to accuse," he said.

Yan Ran contributed to this story.

[email protected]