The State Environmental Protection Administration has asked local governments to take measures to prevent pollution during the ongoing battle against the bird flu.
"Water sources in some areas have been polluted due to improper handling of poultry corpses in the attempt to control bird flu," SEPA said in a statement.
SEPA did not reveal, however, when and where the pollution occurred.
China reported 32 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks on its mainland from January to December 2005, leaving 154,600 birds dead and leading to the cull of more than 22 million birds.
In its circular, SEPA asked localities to attach great importance to the environmental issues that could occur as they try to bring avian flu under control. It said local governments should pay attention to the proper handling of corpses and waste water.
"Immediate checkups should be conducted on breeding farms for domestic animals and poultry located around key water sources, along river banks and in densely populated areas," said the circular.
Environmental protection authorities in areas hit by the virus should step up efforts to monitor water quality and report to the local government and relevant departments immediately if any instance of pollution occurs, the circular said.
SEPA also instructed local governments to ban the construction of any breeding farms in environmentally sensitive areas, including major water sources and densely populated areas.
"The building of breeding farms must strictly comply with the law of environmental impact assessment and other relevant laws and regulations," the statement said.
As of January 25, seven people have died of bird flu in China's Sichuan, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces as well as in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Meanwhile, the government of Hong Kong is expected to amend a law to ban people from raising poultry at home within the next two weeks, Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, York Chow said yesterday.
Chow said the decision comes in the wake of the discover of the H5N1 variant of the virus in a chicken that was being raised in a home.
"Given the public health concerns, we are proceeding with full speed in drafting legislation to ban household poultry keeping. We are of the view that such stringent measures are well justified," Chow said.
The ban will amend a current law that allows people to keep up to 20 chickens in their homes.
The unauthorized raising of poultry could lead to a fine of HK$50,000 to HK$100,000.
Bird flu killed six people in Hong Kong in 1997, prompting the government to slaughter the entire poultry population of about 1.5 million birds. But since then, there have been no major outbreaks.
(Xinhua)