TERRA.WIRE
China's environmental woes worsen
 BEIJING, May 22 (AFP) May 22, 2007
 China's environmental woes have worsened this year with increasingly polluted rivers and lakes causing a sharp drop in the quality of drinking water, a government report published Tuesday said.

China's leaders have called repeatedly for government and industry around the country to take into account the environment and not simply pursue blind economic growth, but the report indicated those orders have been ignored.

"According to the monitoring results, pollution in many parts of the country worsened in the first quarter of 2007," vice environment minister Pan Yue said in a report on his ministry's website and carried on the official Xinhua news agency.

Although air pollution improved in some areas during the first three months of the year, water quality in key waterways and lakes failed to meet the lowest government standards, he said.

"Overall the quality of drinking water fell," Pan said.

Drinking water met state standards in 69 percent of China's major cities, a drop of five percentage points over the same period last year, according to the report.

Three major northern China rivers -- the Songhuajiang, the Huaihe and the Haihe near the cities of Beijing and Tianjin -- "worsened a great deal," Pan said.

Meanwhile water quality in China's three big lakes -- Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi -- all fell below the lowest standards for pollution, he said.

Previous government reports say that about 300 million people in China do not have access to clean water, but Pan did not elaborate on this aspect.

In recent years, China's central government has made environmental protection a priority, but last year it failed to meet key targets on cutting air and water pollution, as well as improving energy efficiency.

Premier Wen Jiabao implored the country in March, at the annual meeting of the nation's parliament, to stop wasting energy and care more for the environment.

"The pattern of economic growth is inefficient. This can be seen most clearly in excessive energy consumption and serious environmental pollution," Wen told the National People's Congress.

While the environment worsened in the first three months of the year, the nation's economic economic growth roared ahead at 11.1 percent, up from 10.7 percent for all of 2006.