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Environment
ChinaPolitics

China begins survey of Yellow River sewers to find sources of pollution

  • Inspections of the sewers are expected to be completed within two years
  • It is the latest effort to gauge and control the pollution in China’s major rivers

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A worker clears rubbish from the Yellow River, where a survey of sewers is to be carried out to identify sources of pollution. Photo: AP
Jack Lau
China has launched its first detailed survey of outfall sewers in the Yellow River drainage basin with the aim of identifying all sources of pollution in the basin within two years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has said.

The ministry used drones to take detailed aerial imagery with a resolution of up to 10cm (4 inches) to verify suspected sources of pollution, which were then confirmed by inspections in person, Zhai Qing, China’s vice-minister for ecology and the environment, said last Friday at a videoconference launching the inspection programme.

Involving 54 cities in nine provinces and autonomous regions, the inspection is the latest effort to gauge and control the pollution in China’s major rivers.

Zhai said his ministry planned to inspect the banks of the Yellow River basin, measuring 19,000km (12,000 miles), and 1km on each side. Inspections of sewers at upstream and midstream basins to the west and north are expected to be completed this year. Sewers in the rest of the basin will follow in 2022.

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Winter freeze arrives along ‘China's sorrow’, the Yellow River

Winter freeze arrives along ‘China's sorrow’, the Yellow River

After the survey of these sources of river pollution, the ministry aims to treat them all by the end of 2025, it said.

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