BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- It is high time for China to bring water pollution under tight control, says a Chinese lawmaker.

"Statistics available from the Ministry of Water Resources showthat more than 70 percent of China's rivers and lakes have been polluted to varying extent," said He Shaoling, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, Saturday onthe sidelines of the ongoing annual NPC session.

"Water pollution has aggravated an acute shortage of water resources and endangered the health of people. There should allowno delay in bringing it under effective control," said He, who is also deputy chief engineer of the China Water Conservancy and Hydropower Research Institute.

Statistics of the Ministry of Water Resources show that pollution in the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Huaihe River havebeen worsening. Among them, more than 27 billion tons of waste water and sewage were discharged into the Yangtze River in 2003, an increase of 35 percent over five years ago.

Pollution of river water caused a financial loss of 11.5 billion yuan (approximately 1.39 billion US dollars) to 15.6 billion yuan (some 1.89 billion dollars) annually in recent years in the Yellow River valley, according to relevant statistics.