Hubei Confronts Its Lake Disappearing Act

(Wuhan) – The last lakes in Hubei Province are shrinking so fast that no one knows whether new government regulations – the latest leg of a 16-year-old environmental scramble – can reverse the disappearing act.

The province has been losing its once-bountiful lakes for about 100 years, but the destructive pace accelerated in modern times with extension draining projects for farmland and the expansion of water-dependent heavy industry.