Water quality in the Huaihe River and the Taihu Lake, two of the most polluted water areas in east China, improved in August this year compared with July 2002 and with the same month last year, according to the China National Environment Monitoring Center.

Ding Zhongyuan, deputy director of the center, made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday.

The water flow in the mainstream of the Huaihe River was greater than that of the same time last year, while tests showed a drop in the level of permanganate salt, a major pollutant, in the water compared with the same period last year.

Ding attributed the improvement of water quality to the strengthening of China's integrated measures to control pollution, such as measures to curb industrial pollution and the operation of more urban water sewage treatment factories.

Since May of this year, China has implemented special measures and punished more than 15,000 enterprises that were in violation of environmental protection regulations. As a result, the emission of pollutants has been significantly reduced.

Ding said key areas for environmental monitoring during the country's 10th five-year plan period (2001-2005) will be pollutants from agricultural production and waste water from daily human use.

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has been issuing monthly reports on the water quality of the Huaihe River and Taihu Lake since January of last year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2002)