Central China province to curb pollution in Dongting Lake

Hunan Province in central China will reduce pollution at a major lake along the middle reaches of Yangtze River, in the following five years, local authorities said Sunday.

Dongting Lake has been left contaminated following years of industrial and agricultural growth, said Li Liqiang, deputy director of Dongting Lake ecological environment monitoring center.

Chen Xiangqun, vice governor of the province, said that ditches and ponds around the lake will be dredged, and pollution caused by livestock and poultry breading around the lake will also be addressed.

Garbage heaped up around the lake will be removed and major industrial pollution sources will be identified, according to the plan, Chen said.

Enterprises ordered to close as part of pollution control measures will be compensated, Chen said.

Hunan will also work with neighboring Hubei Province to protect the environment around the Dongting Lake as it stretches across the two provinces.

A total of 623 environment protection projects with an investment of 270 billion yuan (41.5 billion U.S. dollars) will be completed in four cities, including Yiyang, Yueyang, Changde and Changsha, the in next five years, according to Chen. Endi