(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-19 23:59

BEIJING - The cleanliness of the main body of water in China's Three Gorges Dam area has improved a little but water quality in several branches is getting worse, said the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) on Tuesday.

A general view of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river in Yichang in central China's Hubei province. [Xinhua/files]

The water quality in the reservoir and higher reaches of the Yangtze River remained at category III -- okay for drinking, aquatic breeding, fisheries and swimming, SEPA said in a newly-amended plan to tackle water pollution in the Three Gorges Dam area and higher reaches of the Yangtze.

But several branches of the river in this area were becoming less capable of supporting the microbes and plant life that make water fit for drinking and for fish and plants to grow in it, the document said.

In September at a forum in Wuhai in the central Hubei Province, Chinese officials and experts admitted the Three Gorges Dam project had caused an array of ecological ills, including more frequent landslides and pollution.

In 2001, the country adopted a 10-year plan to prevent and relieve water pollution in this hydrological project but found flaws after five years of implementation.

"The target of chemical oxygen demand (COD) set for 2005 was not fulfilled," SEPA said.

The COD in body of water in this area, a major index of water quality, was supposed to reduce from 1.356 million tons in 2000 to 1.028 million tons in 2005. It stayed at 1.363 million tons.

Although several big waste water plants were built and polluted factories closed or equipped with remediation facilities, some facilities have not been running at full capacity. In addition, two-thirds of the ecological conservation projects in the plan have not yet started, the document said.

The facilities to monitor environmental changes in the whole area were also not in place, it added.

SEPA warned of environmental challenges in the next few years.

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