Mountains and rivers of waste

Another source of pollution is animal waste, particularly on hog farms.

Pig excrement and urine cause pollution due to farmers' indifference to environmental protection and insufficient spending on waste management.

The problem is so serious that some villages have become known as "pig shit villages," according to Fang.

Santang Township boasts more than a decade of pig raising and farmers simply pour their waste into a local pond, where villagers once washed clothes. The water has turned black and the fish have all died. The air has a terrible smell.

In Bobai, the region's biggest pig town, villagers dump untreated waste in their yards or on their crops, polluting water, soil and air. It is the same in Shanggao Township in east China's Jiangxi province.

The township, of a population of 300,000, is home to a huge pork industry, with an average of 2.7 pigs for each person. Over 2,000 tons of solid waste and up to 5,000 tons of waste liquid are produced on a daily basis.

Biogas digesters cannot cope and a large amount of effluent is discharged directly without treatment, polluting the air and groundwater.

And it is not just pigs, poultry and cattle industries are every bit as bad, according to Fang.

Jiang Yongqiang, in charge of animal husbandry in Guangxi's Luchuan Township, believes that the key to tackling pollution lies in farmers' awareness of the environment.

"It is necessary to promote environmental protection via the media and training to let them know that the pollution will cause them losses, or even damage to themselves," Jiang said.

He Ruogang said that government at various levels should allocate more funds to treatment facilities and encourage farmers to recycle the waste into clean energy.

Li Liping, a lawyer with the Beijing Sun God Law Office, said that the law needs to be improved.

"Environmental problems in stock raising involve departments like health, animal husbandry, inspection and quarantine so it will take all of these departments to deal with the problem," Li said.

Those responsible for major outbreaks of disease should be held accountable, she added.