The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) is named as a litigant in the case due to its role in designating such cities, she said.

Wu, 39, was arrested late last month. He is one of a few environmental activists known to have been arrested in China after waging extensive campaigns against local governments to clean up the environment.

Wu has fought for years against the pollution of Taihu lake in the centre of the Yangtze River Delta plain, a region known for its natural beauty but now littered with light industry and chemical factories.

"Wu Lihong was about to come to Beijing to sue the environmental protection agency when he was arrested, now I am carrying on his work," Xu said.

Xu filed the suit in accordance with provisions on suing the government in China's "administrative procedural law."

Chen Faqing, a colleague of Wu's and a fellow activist, is a co-plaintiff.

The two have provided 83 bottles of contaminated water samples gathered from the Yixing region next to Taihu Lake, and also gathered a series of television and news reports which document polluted rivers in the area.

"We have written letters, provided reports to local, provincial and central governments on the pollution and environmental damage being done to Yixing," Chen said.

"But to no avail, even SEPA has ignored our reports. The lawsuit is the only way left for us to address this."

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