Polluted Tributaries Sing the Yellow River Blues

(Beijing) — At least eight tributaries of the Yellow River flowing through the northwestern region of Ningxia are too heavily polluted to tap for general use, including crop irrigation, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

That grim assessment appears in a report to regional authorities authored by a team of MEP inspectors who toured Ningxia's waterways in July and August. The report, released Wednesday, said weak enforcement of environmental regulations is contributing to deteriorating water quality in five of those tributaries.