Environmental authorities say a river originating in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province threatens Beijing's future water resources.

The Han River flows 600 kilometers east to the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which, in five years, will contain 33.9 billion cubic meters of water to serve the needs of thirsty Beijing, Tianjin and parts of Hebei Province, all in north China.

The Han River contributes over 70 percent of the reservoir's water, so any changes of its quality or volume would have a direct impact on drinking water of the nation's capital.

It flows through the cities of Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo and 27 counties populated by 9 million people in Shaanxi.

Currently, a small number of industrial enterprises line the basin, but experts fear this will not last long as economic development stretches the river's sewage disposal capacity.

There are only two sewage disposal plants along the Han River's Shaanxi section, in Hanzhong and Ankang, with a combined disposal capacity of around 30 million tons a year, far less than the 60 million tons of sewage discharged by the two cities.

Lack of funds is a major obstacle to building of more sewage disposal plants and corresponding pipeline networks to collect waste water from thousands of households in the cities, as they cost usually millions of US dollars, said Li Xingmin, vice director of the Shaanxi environmental protection bureau.

Li estimated the 27 counties discharge about 100 million tons of sewage every year directly into the Han River. A strip of dark water is often found when the river flows through urban areas and officials are concerned it will become longer and wider as the population and economy grow.

In order to protect the water quality of Danjiangkou Reservoir, the Chinese government has issued a plan requiring major cities near the reservoir to improve the way they develop urban infrastructure.

An inspection team of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress visited Shaanxi to check the implementation of three environmental protection laws on solid wastes, water and air pollution.

Local businesses' expansion also poses a serious threat. The waste discharge volume has been rising since 2000 along with a growing number of enterprises such as papermaking, non-ferrous metal mining and construction material making.

Xu Yongqing, head of the inspection team and member of the NPC Standing Committee, cautioned pollution treatment needs to be improved, urging local governments to ensure the 11th Five-Year Plan could be realized.

The discharge volume of pollutants must drop by 10 percent while economic scale expands 40 percent during 2006 to 2010, the plan says.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2006)