SHANGHAI, Sept. 26 -- ALL the restaurants built on or near Taihu Lake in eastern China's Jiangsu Province might be shut down to protect the country's third biggest lake from further pollution, the Shanghai Oriental Morning Post reported today.

Restaurants that are open on the lake surface or within five kilometers of the banks are expected to be closed off as the area is listed as part of an A-level protection zone in a draft law submitted to the top provincial law makers yesterday, the report said.

The A-level protection zone also includes a 10-kilometer-long section of all tributaries that are close to the lake as well as areas within a kilometer of the banks of these tributaries, the report said.

The draft law, a regulation aimed at preventing pollution on Taihu Lake, will also ban sewage discharge outlets in the zone while large scale raisings of livestock, new golf courses and construction of water parks are also prohibited, the report added.

Pollution violators who have discharged more pollutants than the law allowed will face tougher punishment under the new draft with a fine up to one million yuan (US$133,155), the report said.

Taihu Lake, located on the boundary of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, is the largest lake in eastern China with a total area of almost 3,100 square kilometer.

The lake suffered a severe algae outbreak at the end of May this year, which rendered tap water undrinkable for a week for half of the 2.3 million residents in Wuxi City, Jiangsu.