(CNN) The residents of Dawu, in central China’s Hubei province, say they are being killed by their water. The Ying River, a major tributary of the Huai River, passes near the village and has been heavily polluted for more than a decade.

　　湖北省大悟县的居民告诉记者，当地的水污染已经严重地影响他们的生活。大悟县旁流淌而过的应河是淮河的一条主要支流，但是在过去的数十年里一直遭受着严重的水体污染。

　　One villager, Wu Zongjun, says pollution has spread to the underground basins and water they use for irrigation. "(Now) there are people passing away due to cancer every year," he says, adding he personally knew more than 20 people diagnosed in his village since 2010.

　　吴宗钧是当地一名村民，他说污染已经渗透进入土层以及他们赖以灌溉作物的地下水。“现在每年都有当地人因为患癌症而去世，”他补充道：“自2010年以来，当地村民中仅仅他认识的就有超过20人被诊断患有癌症。”

　　A dead chicken floats in the severely polluted waters near Wanggou Village, upstream from Dawu Village on the Ying River. It isn’t just hearsay -- in 2013, the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention issued a report, showing a direct correlation between the Huai’s water pollution and cancer risk in nearby villages, nicknamed Cancer Villages.

　　图片中展现的是大悟村应河上游的王沟村附近，重度污染的应河水面上漂浮着一只死鸡。这并不是一些小道消息——在2013年，中国疾病预防控制中心发布了一份报告，这份报告显示了淮河污染情况与附近村庄村民致癌风险的密不可分的联系，以至于这些村庄被人们叫做“癌症村”。

　　The plight of Dawu village is just one small part of a massive water crisis unfolding in China. The problem isn’t just the pollution that has contaminated much of northern China’s groundwater -- there are also chronic shortages in the major cities, including the capital Beijing, that are putting the country’s economic growth at risk.

　　大悟县的的水污染问题仅仅是中国严峻的水资源危机的一小部分。水资源危机并不仅仅是北方大部分地区的地下水受到污染，而且包括首都北京在内的一些大型城市都长期遭受着水资源短缺的困扰，甚至危及国家经济发展。

　　But now China’s mammoth bureaucracy has begun to turn its attention to the country’s water issues. Billions of dollars are being funneled into large-scale solutions, trialed in cities and rivers countrywide, while government officials try to rein in polluters with strict new laws. Critics say some of the measures are expensive, too short-term and come with massive hidden costs.

　　但是现在中国庞大的政府机构已经将目光转向水资源问题。全国范围内投入数十亿美元的经费用于大规模研究和解决城市与水资源危机。与此同时政府决定出台更加严格的法律来惩治水污染行为。一些评论员指出，有些措施成本过高，时效短而且还含有高额的隐形成本。

（编辑：何莹莹）