A record 30.5 billion tons of domestic and industrial sewage was dumped into the Yangtze River last year, according to water authorities.

The amount of sewage discharged into the country's longest river was an increase of 900 million tons or 3.1 percent higher than 2005, said Hu Jiajun, a spokesman for the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission.

The waste included 9.7 billion tons of domestic sewage and 20.8billion tons of industrial sewage, said Hu, citing statistics of the water quality monitoring of the Yangtze's major tributaries and lakes by the commission.

Sewage discharged into the river has been increasing in recent years. The amount was 15 billion tons at the end of the 1980s, 23.9 billion tons in 2000 and 29.6 billion tons in 2005.

"The latest amount is a true reflection of the water pollution situation in the river," said Ma Jianhua, the commission's chief engineer.

He said it had been the first time that sewage growth was less than five percent as the growth was more than five percent in previous years.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization has left many of China's rivers or lakes polluted to various degrees.

According to the country's top environmental protection agency, the country's seven major water systems, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, remained "mildly polluted," with no obvious alteration in water quality in general.

(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2007)