Comment on "Half of China's urban underground water polluted"(China Daily, May 28)

My hometown is Tianjin, and the Haihe River seems to be the mother river. It is really sad to hear that Haihe River is heavily polluted. I know it's years since the water was suitable for drinking, but it is still a shock to me that half of China's urban underground water is polluted.

North China is famous for its lack of drinking water. And if we cannot drink the underground water, what shall we drink? The cost of making seawater drinkable is very high, which means it is unrealistic to rely on desalination. It's good to hear that the government is going to take some steps to fight water pollution. However, we should also change our behavior and be more aware of the scarcity of water and make efforts to stop polluting underground water sources.

Yuan, via e-mail

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(China Daily 06/05/2012 page9)