U.S. Water News Online
BEIJING -- The amount of sewage dumped into China's Yangtze River rose 3 percent last year to a record level, state media said.
Some 30.5 billion tons of domestic and industrial sewage were dumped into the river in 2006, according to water authorities, Xinhua News Agency said.
That was an increase of 3.1 percent, or 900 million tons, from the year before and a new record, according to Hu Jiajun, a spokesman for the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, Xinhua said.
The 3,900-mile Yangtze is the world's third-largest river, flowing across the breadth of China to the East China Sea. Mineral fertilizers used in agriculture have added to the deterioration of its water quality.
Last year's waste included 9.7 billion tons of domestic sewage and 20.8 billion tons of industrial sewage, Hu said.
"The latest amount is a true reflection of the water pollution situation in the river," Ma Jianhua, the commission's chief engineer was quoted as saying.
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