China to build more sewage treatment plants around major lake

HEFEI, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Economic planning authorities in east China's Anhui province said Friday that they will build more sewage treatment plants in the countryside surrounding Chaohu Lake to cut pollution.

Facilities that can handle 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes of wastewater per day will be built in every township surrounding Chaohu Lake by 2015, said an official with the development and reform commission in the provincial capital Hefei.

Chaohu Lake -- one of China's five largest freshwater lakes -- is mostly situated in the city of Hefei. Heavy use and local industrial development in recent years have made it one of the country's most polluted lakes.

The city previously focused mostly on intercepting sewage from the urban areas.

The lake is about 13,000 square kilometers in size.