BEIJING, Aug. 26  -- A senior Chinese legislator has said that severe pollution is threatening the water quality of a cross-country water diversion project and two major rivers in China, urging the government to keep an "efficient vigilance" on the issue.

       Mao Rubai, chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Environment and Resources under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), gave his warning over the situation of water pollution in the country, at the 29th meeting of the NPC Standing Committee on Sunday.

       Recently, lawmakers made investigative tours on the issue of water pollution, to find out that some factories are discharging contaminated water into rivers and lakes in connection with the eastern section of the South-North Water Diversion Project, which runs from Jiangsu Province, in east China, to Tianjin Municipality, in north China.

       The government is slow in approving plans on some major environmental projects, making it difficult to complete these projects according to schedule, Mao said.

       The lawmakers also found that the water of Liaohe River, in northeast China, has been severely contaminated by local industries. In some cities, contaminated water are being discharged into rivers without any sewage disposal.

       Mao urged the government to allocate more funds for sewage disposal. Under the 11th Five-year Plan (2006-2010), the central government should allocate 150 billion (about 20 billion US dollars) for the purpose, but the figure reached just over 30 billion yuan by July.

       According to the legislator, during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), the government invested 14.46 billion yuan (about 1.9 billion US dollars) and 6.4 billion yuan (about 842 million US dollars) for environmental purposes in Liaohe and Huaihe areas, completing 342 and 95 projects in the two areas, respectively.