China releases new water pollution data; annual loads to waterways are four times safe limits

China has released a new report detailing the amount of pollution discharged to its waters, and the results indicate that the country is overwhelming its rivers, lakes and streams with toxins.

According to a report published in today's New York Times, the first-ever Chinese national pollution census shows that, in 2007, the world's most populated country emitted more than 30 million tons of organic pollutants into its waters.

The Times article, quoting a Chinese environmental group leader, says that the annual limit for the country's lakes, rivers and streams is about 7.4 million tons of the organic pollutants that measure chemical oxygen demand.

Nearly half of the pollutants in China's freshwater chemical oxygen demand originate in agricultural operations, the report says.

The new report by the Chinese government also says that water pollution from soot and ammonia nitrogen have increased from previous, less-detailed examinations of the nation's pollution problem and that heavy metal contamination of water, including from mercury and lead, persists.

The World Health Organization estimates that almost 100,000 people in China die each year from water pollution-related causes and that 75 percent of disease in the country results from water quality problems.

A 2007 investigative report by the New York Times indicated that about 500 million Chinese lack access to safe drinking water.