Cities along the Yangtze River have fallen victim to water pollution that threatens their water supply, according to the Yangtze River Forum sponsored by the organizing committee for Protecting the Yangtze River.

Some 60 percent of the water body of the river has been polluted, with more than 20 billion tons of wastewater discharged into the river each year, and it is reported that a large percentage of wastewater fails to meet the state-set waste discharging standards.

A China Development Research Institute survey also found that of the 394 major wastewater discharge outlets along the Yangtze, over than half could not meet the criteria on waste discharge.

A 600 km-long pollutant belts have been formed in different sections of the river, at Chongqing on the upper reaches and down to Nanjing and Shanghai at the lower reaches of the river, said Professor Lu Jianjian with the East China Normal University.

Lu said the pollution belts have caused water supply problems in 26 cities along the river due to the deteriorating water quality, including Shanghai.

The Yangtze basin is one of China's economic powerhouses, but industrial development of the cities along the river worsened pollution of the Yangtze.

(China Daily June 10, 2004)