East China's Jiangsu Province has obtained a World Bank loan of 61.3 million US dollars to ease deterioration in water resources and improve the urban environment in the Taihu Lake area, an official in charge of environmental protection said.

The official with the Jiangsu Provincial Office for Using World Bank Loans in Environmental Protection said the money will be usedto build two and expand six sewage treatment plants in the cities of Suzhou and Wuxi, dredge river courses and reinforce river banks.

All the projects are expected to be completed and put into use in 2008.

The third largest fresh water lake in China, the Taihu Lake with its system of dense rivers and small lakes is the water source for more than 36 million people in the Taihu Lake area, including residents of Suzhou and Wuxi cities.

Water in the Taihu Lake and more than 85 percent of local rivers had been seriously polluted by the mid 1990s as a result of large amount of waste being discharged into the lakes and rivers without being treated.

Source: Xinhua