Environmental authorities will allow water to rehabilitate itself naturally while capping emissions to purify the country's waste-choked rivers and lakes, Zhou Shengxian, the top environmental official tells China Daily.

Q: The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) placed unprecedented importance on protecting the environment. As the minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), how do you see your obligations in the future?

A: President Hu Jintao, in his political report to the conference, said China's economic growth comes at an excessively high cost to our resources and the environment before he listed other difficulties and problems hindering development. He said the public will be made more aware of conservation and that China must give prominence to building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society in its strategy for industrialization and modernization. The country must also get every organization and family to act accordingly.