Report: Rural environment deteriorated in 2012

Chinese environment officials reported Tuesday that pollution throughout rural parts of China worsened considerably in 2012 due to expansion in industry, mining and animal husbandry, Reuters reported. The Ministry of Environmental Protection also stated in its annual report that China’s farms have overtaken cities as the major source of pollution. The ministry called environmental conditions in the countryside “grim” but wrote that the country’s overall environmental condition did not worsen in 2012. The report said that the overall air quality in cities was “generally stable” and that improvements had been made in water quality in 2012, although the pollution problems facing China remain severe.