The three-year plan will focus on controlling and reducing industrial pollutants along the Liaohe River, said Hou Yongshun, a senior engineer from the local environmental protection bureau responsible for the project.

"Never has Liaoning put the environment in such an important position. It is vital to balance environment and development," Hou told China Daily yesterday.

Local non-governmental environmental protection organization "Green Liaoning" has welcomed the plan, which said the plan showed the province was beginning to confront its ecological problems.

"This project should have a positive effect on the local ecological system," said Liu Detian, vice-chairman of the organization.

The plan is to try and control the establishment of new potential polluters including papermaking, pharmaceutical and chemical plants.

The local authorities will also tighten up the monitoring of existing heavy polluters such as iron, steel and cement plants.

All such plants along the river will be told to meet the protection standards within three years.

In relation to drinking water, new poultry farms will not be allowed to be located around the river or reservoirs. Those which are there will be moved or closed down.

Hou said polluters will pay for the new scheme, but he declined to give more details about the financing.

An environmental report earlier this year showed that the Liaohe River was at the top of the list of the nation's most heavily polluted rivers.

Another survey by the local Liaoning Environment Monitor Centre said five out of six major rivers in Liaoning are in a bad way. It said 33 of 47 distributaries have been polluted to varying degrees.

On a good note, 12 major reservoirs being monitored are clean and 97.4 per cent of drinking water meets quality standards.

The ever-worsening Liaohe River highlights the long-standing conflict between the environment and development.

Industrial and agricultural waste and sewage are among the main factorss for the problem, Hou said.

But he argued that Liaoning should not be solely responsible for the river's pollution - the province of Jilin and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are major sources of pollution.

There are many small township workshops beside the river in these two regions, which pour waste water directly into the river.

Liaoning's ecological system has improved gradually in the past decade thanks to the local authority's continuing efforts, said Hou.

Statistics from the local environmental protection bureau show Liaoning has invested 8 billion yuan (US$967 million) in giving each of its 14 cities sewage plants, according to Hou.

"We need to pay more attention to environmental protection, especially river protection, as a growing population and rapid urbanization are threatening to wreak havoc on an already fragile water supply," Hou emphasized.

River pollution has made worse an acute shortage of water and endangered people's health.

According to the new plan, by 2010 the Liaohe River will be greatly improved. But experts are still worried about the river's future in a province that is intent on economic prosperity.

At present, Shenyang, the capital city of the province, is pushing forward a large-scale paper making plant project by the river, with an investment of 11.9 billion yuan (US$ 1.4 billion).

The local authority said a waste water treatment plant will also be set up.

(China Daily April 1, 2005)