China's environment will hold "unbearable burden" given the current economy growth ways remain unchanged, said a senior environment official here Thursday.

Should the current growth ways continues, burden over China's environment will increase four to five times than nowadays, said Zhu Guangyao, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration at a forum.

"By the year 2020, China's economy is set to score quadruple growth, which means the emission of pollutants will far beyond thebearing capacity of the whole environment," he said.

According to a survey to 500 Chinese cities, air quality in 290cities failed to meet the national standards, water quality in 50 cities can hardly reach 50 percent of the national criteria, and soil erosion and other environmental problems were still serious.

"The only way out is to seek a new industrialization path suitable to China's conditions by shifting economic growth ways, efficiently utilizing natural resources and developing recycled economy," he said.

Source: Xinhua