BEIJING, May 14 (UPI) -- Authorities in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province in eastern China, report problems caused by acid rain have reached crisis proportions.
A story carried by Xinhua on Friday said Jiangxi was in "dire need" of combating the environmental problem which is damaging peoples' livelihood as well as their health.
According to the statistics department in Nanchang, the province's GDP in 2003 declined by $964 million because of problems attributed to acid rain.
The international standard for detecting acid rain is a pH value of 5.6 or lower. Jiangxi had an average pH value of 4.66 in its rainfall during 2003. In 2002 measured rainfall in the province stood at 4.89 pH.
Up to 90 percent of cities in Jiangxi reported problems related to acid rain pollution during 2003. The most severely impacted place was the city of Pingxiang where the rainfall pH value averaged 3.67.
