Half Of China Waters Are Seriously Polluted

More than half of China’s rivers and lakes are seriously contaminated and 25,000 miles are too polluted for fishing, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Aquatic life has been wiped out along 1,500 miles of rivers and streams, the Guangming Daily quoted the Water Ministry as saying.

The pollution - mostly waste from factories, cities and chemically treated fields - was also affecting underground water supplies, the newspaper said.

The government recently reported it had closed 81 percent of the paper mills, coking plants and other small factories causing most of the pollution.