2/3 Of China's Cities Fail PRC Air Standards, Have No Centralized Sewage Systems - Reuters

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BEIJING - Nearly two-thirds of Chinese cities suffered from air pollution last year and had no centralised sewage treatment facilities, state media reported on Tuesday.

Only 37.6 percent of 585 cities surveyed had air quality "indicating a clean and healthy environment", down 7.3 percentage points from 2005, the China Daily said, citing a report by the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). Thirty-nine cities, many scattered across the northern coal-rich province of Shanxi and China's northeastern rustbelt province of Liaoning, suffered "severe" air pollution, the paper said.

"The report also found that the ratio of quality water in the major urban areas, either for drinking or industrial use, had dropped by 7.24 percent," the paper said.

Two hundred cities had no "centralised sewage management system" and 187 had no garbage disposal plants, it said. The government planned to have at least 70 percent of sewage and at least 60 percent of garbage treated effectively by 2010, but "the environment issue remains of serious concern and there is difficulty realising the goal," the paper quoted the report as saying.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/42570/story.htm