From Reuters:
More than 1,000 chemical plants will be forced to close around the shores of China’s third-largest lake due to an increase in pollution charges following an outbreak of algae bloom earlier this year.
In late May and early June, the giant Taihu Lake was covered in a thick foul-smelling canopy of green algae that left tap water undrinkable for more than 2.3 million residents of Wuxi city and prompted a run on bottled water for days.
From next year, plants around the lake in the eastern province of Jiangsu will have to pay 10.5 yuan ($1.4) for the discharge of each kilogram of COD, chemical oxygen demand, a measure for pollution, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. [Full Text]
