China’s farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of dollars in damages.

Heavy metals contaminate 12 million tons of grains each year, leading to direct losses of more than 20 billion yuan ($2.6 billion). More than 24.7 million acres, or 10 percent of China’s farming land, has been ruined.

More than 70 percent of China’s waterways and 90 percent of its underground water are contaminated by pollution, according to previously released government figures, but the impact on soil has never been measured.

Read (Discovery Channel)