A delegation of journalists, with funding from the National People's Congress (NPC), will visit algae-plagued Taihu Lake in east China's Jiangsu Province next month.

The journalists will come from major Chinese media organizations and will be backed by the NPC Environmental and Resources Protection Committee and a dozen central government departments.

This plan was disclosed by an official from the NPC committee during a workshop on Wednesday in Tianjin, the largest port city in north China.

Since 1993, the NPC committee has organized journalists to observe the implementation of environmental laws and regulations by local governments.

The media group is conducted under the name of the Century Tour for Environmental Protection in China.

In recent years, Taihu Lake has been plagued by algae due to severe industrial pollution. Last year, an outbreak of algae forced local water plants to cut drinking water supplies to 2 million residents in Wuxi City.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2008)