From Xinhua News Agency via China Environmental News Digest:
Nearly 1,000 lakes have disappeared over the past 50 years, an average rate of 20 lakes lost each year, said Zhu Guangyao, Vice Minister of State Environmental Protection Administration of China, on Wednesday.
Zhu revealed the figure at the the 11th International Living Lakes Conference held on Wednesday and Thursday in Nanchang, capital of east China’s Jiangxi Province.
He said 75 percent of China’s 20,000 natural lakes and thousands of artificial lakes suffered from algae pollution caused by an influx of waste water containing nitrogen, phosphorus and other harmful substances. [Full Text]