The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China's top environmental watchdog, has launched a campaign to fight pollution by investigating the banks of the Yellow River to map all sewage outlets.

According to the ministry, the campaign aims to boost protection of the environment and promote high-quality development in the Yellow River basin. It will first map the sewage exits and then monitor the pollutants from the exits, trace pollution to its source and develop specific remediation measures. The campaign will last for two or three years while the mapping of the sewage exits will be finished this year.

It will draw on experience from similar actions launched along the Yangtze River and the Bohai Sea last year. The actions have pinpointed 60,292 sewage outlets entering the Yangtze River and 18,886 sewage outlets entering the Bohai Sea. Compared with the Yangtze River and the Bohai Sea, the Yellow River basin has a more complex and diverse topography, uneven distribution of water resources and fragile ecology, the ministry said.

The path of green development is vital for China and the country has stepped up rolling out measures to enhance environmental protection.

(Cover image via VCG.)

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