Local legislation has been proposed to better protect drinking water sources in south China's Guangdong Province.

Inadequate law enforcement and a lack of related laws and regulations have created the problems, it is claimed.

The Guangdong Provincial People's Congress' Environmental and Resources Protection Commission - which proposed the new law - has seen a continual decline in water quality.

Only 72 percent of the province's natural drinking water meets national standards.

A prolonged drought, which has caused salinity due to the lowering of river levels and sea water inflows, has also been blamed.

In the latest efforts to ease salinity, huge volumes of water have since last month been diverted from Guizhou Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to Guangdong, to raise the levels of rivers.

"Guangdong is facing a shortage of drinking water in terms of quality and people are very concerned about the safety of the water they are drinking," said Yao Bentang, a deputy to the provincial people's congress.

He was among the 152 congress deputies who came up with 13 related motions, which were condensed by the commission into the final proposal.

It was presented to the presidium by the commission during the latest session of the congress, which concluded last week.

The river passing Yao's city of Zhongshan, for example, is having problems with increasing nitrogen levels and salt.

Other problems were also identified in the commission's proposal, including insufficient awareness of protection, sewage treatment capacities, and farming and industrial activities near water sources.

The excessive use of ground water by urban residents in the city of Zhanjiang has resulted in cave-ins.

People in most of the rural areas in the province use ground water that is too close to the surface, which means the quality is questionable.

"Legislation should be introduced as soon as possible to protect the water sources," Yao said.

Guangdong contributed more than 10 percent of the gross domestic product of the country last year.

It has 79 million permanent residents and 31 million transient ones, Governor Huang Huahua said last week.

According to incomplete statistics, six provinces and municipalities in China have local laws on the matter in place, and 10 have regulations.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will arrange checks of drinking water sources in some provinces, including Guangdong, later this year.

(China Daily February 3, 2005)