Water Pollution in China Essay Example

Water Pollution in China Essay Example Water Pollution in China Paper Water Pollution in China Paper 111 paper mills and 413 other industrial plants on the river were shut down. In the village of Humidifying?where a once-clear stream is now greenish black from factory wastes?cancer accounted for 11 of the 1 7 deaths in 2003. Both the river and well water in the village?the main source of drinking water?have an acrid smell and taste produced by pollutants dumped upstream by tanneries, paper mills, a huge MS plant, and other factories. Cancer had been rare when the stream was clear. Attenuate is town six kilometers northwest of Asian that still uses an ancient system of moats to irrigate its crops. The moats unfortunately dont drain so well and are now badly contaminated by household discharges and industrial waste. Visitors to the town are often overwhelmed by the rotten egg smell and feel faint after five minutes of breathing in the air. Vegetables produced in the fields are discovered and sometimes black. Residents suffer from abnormally high cancer rates. One third of peasants in the village Bedaub are mentally ill or seriously ill. Women report high numbers of miscarriages and many people die in middle age. The culprit is believed to be drinking water drawn from the Yellow River downstream from a fertilizer plant. The waters around Tuition in Sneezing, the home of Highs Pharmaceutical, one of Chinas largest drug makers, are so contaminated with sludge and chemicals that fishermen complain their hands and legs become ulcerated, and in extreme cases need amputation. Studies have show that people who live around the city have high cancer and birth defect rates. Polluted Yanking, pearl and Yellow Rivers Chinas three great rivers?the Yanking, Pearl and Yellow River?are so filthy that it is dangerous to swim or eat fish caught in them. Parts of the Pearl River in Guanos are so thick, dark and soupy it looks like one could walk across t. In recent years pollution has become a problem on the Yellow River. By one count 4,000 of Chinas 20,000 petrochemical factories are on the Yellow River and a third of all fish species found in the Yellow River have become extinct because of dams, falling water levels, pollution and over fishing. More than 80 percent of the Hay-Huh Yellow river basin is chronically polluted. In October 2006, a one kilometer section of the Yellow River turned red in the city of Languor in Gangs Province as result of a red and smell)/ discharge from a Sewage pipe. In December 2005, six tons of diesel Oil leaked into a arbitrary of the Yellow River from a pipe that cracked because of freezing conditions. It produced a 40 mile long slick. Sixty-three water pumps had to be shut down, including some in Jinn, the capital of Sandhog Province. The Yanking River is polluted with 40 million tons of industrial and sewage waste. Half of Chinas 20,000 petrochemical factories lie on its banks. About 40 percent of all waste water produced in China?about 25 billion tons?flows into the Yanking, of which only about 20 percent is treated beforehand. The pollution has taken its toll on aquatic life. Fish catches from the river declined room 427,000 tons in the 1 sass to 100,000 tons in the sass. The Yanking is in danger of becoming a dead river unable to sustain marine life or providing drinking water. According to report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences released in April 2007 the Yanking is seriously and largely irreversibly polluted. More than 600 kilometers of its length and almost 30 percent of its major tributaries are in critical condition. Sections of the Grand Canal that have water deep enough to accommodate boats are often filled with trash sewage and oil slicks. Chemical waste and fertilizer and pesticide run-off empties into the canal. The water is mostly brownish green. People who drink it often get diarrhea and break out in rashes. Polluted Lakes, Canals and Coastal Areas in China Dead fish in Hangout pond Studies have showed that the quality of coastal waters are deteriorating quickly as a result of land-based pollution. The study found that 8. 3 billion tons of sewage was released in Gudgeon Provinces coastal waters in 2006, 60 percent more than five years earlier. Altogether 12. Million tons Of polluted material was dumped in waters Off the southern province. Some lakes are in equally bad shape. Chinas great lakes?the ATA, Chaos and Danish?have water that is rated Grade V, the most degraded level. It is unfit for drinking or for agricultural or industrial use. Describing Chinas fifth- biggest lake a Wall Street Journal reporter wrote: The slow, hot days of summer are here, and sun-fed algae is starting to clot the milky surface of Chao s Lake. Soon a living scum will carpet a patch the size of New York City. It will quickly blacken and rot The smell is so terrible you can not describe it. Canals, See Change, Places Apple Accused of Making a River Runs Black In March 2012, Peter Smith wrote in The Times, Beyond the brick cottages of Tonguing runs Lou Ixia Bang, once the soul of the farming village and a river where, until the digital revolution, children swam and mothers washed rice. Today it flows black: a chemical mess heavy with the stench of Chinas high- tech industry ? the hidden companion of the worlds most famous electronics brands and a reason the world gets its gadgets on the cheap. Source: Peter Smith, The Times, March 9, 2012] The article then goes on to describe how the town of Tonguing Was being affected by chemical Waste from local factories that, as well as turning the river black, has caused a phenomenal increase in cancer rates in Tonguing (according to research by five Chinese non-governmental organizations). The factories have grown up in the last few years and make circuit boards, touch screens and the casings of smartness, laptops and tablet computers. As usual in these cases, Apple was mentioned although the evidence appears to be a little sketchy as to whether these factories are actually players in the Apple supply chain. [Source: Speedometer UK/Europe blob] Smith wrote in the Times: Workers at the Cedar factory, five meters from a kindergarten where children have implanted of dizziness and nausea, have secretly confirmed that products had left the factory bearing the Apple trademark. Red Tides, Salt Tides and Algae Bloom in China Algae blooms, or transportation, in lakes are caused by too much nutrients in the water. They turn lakes green and suffocate fish by depleting the oxygen. They are often caused by human and animal waste and run off of chemical fertilizers. Similar conditions create red tides in the sea. The government estimates that $240 million worth of damage and economic loses was caused by 45 major red tides between 1997 and 1999. Describing a red tide near the own of Tomato that left the seas blanketed with dead fish and fishermen badly in debt, a fisherman told the Los Angels Times, The sea turned dark, like tea. If you talk to the fishermen around here, theyll all break into tears. In some places the Chinese have tried to minimize the damage caused by algae blooms by pumping oxygen into the water and containing the blooms by adding clay which acts as a magnet for algae. A lack funds keeps China from tackling the problem using more conventional means. A severe drought in 2006, caused large amounts of seawater to flow upstream on the Gaining River in southern China. In Macaw salinity levels in the river jumped to almost three time above the World Health Organization standards. To combat the problem water was diverted into it from the Beijing River in Gudgeon. Water Bodies Struck by Algae Blooms in China Red tides have increased in their numbers and severity in coastal areas of China, particularly in Boohoo Bay off eastern China, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Large red tides have occurred around the Shannon Islands near Shanghai. In May and June 2004, two huge red tides, covering a total area size of 1. 3 million soccer fields, developed in Boohoo Bay. One occurred near the mouth of the Yellow River and affected an area of 1,850 square kilometers. Another struck near the port city of Tannin and covered nearly 3,200 square kilometers. It was blamed on the dumping of large amounts of waste water and sewage into the bay and rivers leading into the bay. In June 2007, coastal waters off the booming industrial town of Sheehan were hit by one the biggest ever red tides. It produced a 50 square kilometer slick and was caused by pollution and persisted because of a lack of rain. There were large algae blooms in freshwater lakes throughout China in 2007. Some were lamed on pollution. Others were blamed on drought. In Jungian Province the water level in one lake dropped to its lowest level in 50 years and became inundated with blue-green algae that produced smelly, undrinkable water. Lake ATA Pollution Lake ATA is often choked with industrial waste from factories producing paper, film and dyes, urban sewage and agricultural run-off. It sometimes is covered with green algae as a result of nitrogen and phosphate pollution. Locals complain of polluted irrigation water that causes their skin to peal, dyes that turn the water red and fumes that sting their eyes. Dams built for load control and irrigation have prevented Lake Taxis from flushing out pesticides and fertilizers that flow into it. Particularly damaging are phosphates which suck out life-sustaining oxygen. Starting in the sass a number of chemical factories were built on its shores. As of the late sass there were 2,800 chemical factories around the lake, some of which released their waste directly into the lake in the middle of the night to avoid detection. Lake ATA Algae Blooms Algae bloom in Lake ATA In the summer of 2007, large algae blooms covered parts of Lake ATA and Lake Chaos, Chinas third and fifth largest freshwater sakes, making the water undrinkable and producing a terrible stench. Two million of residents of Wax, who normally rely on water from the Lake ATA for drinking water, couldnt bathe or wash dishes and hoarded bottled water that rose in price from $1 a bottle to $6 a bottle. Some turned on their taps only to have sludge emerge. The bloom on Lake ATA lasted for six days until it was flushed out by rain and water diverted from the Yanking River. The bloom on Lake Chaos did not threaten water supplies. Reporting from Shouted, near Lake ATA, William Wan wrote in Washington Post, m/U smell the lake before oh see it, an overwhelming stench like rotten eggs mixed with manure. The visuals are just as bad, the shore caked with toxic blue-green algae. Farther out, where the algae is more diluted but equally fueled by pollution, it swirls with the currents, a vast network of green tendrils across the surface of ATA Lake. [Source: William Wan, Washington post, October 29, 2010] Such pollution problems are now widespread in China after three decades of unbridled economic growth. But whats surprising about ATA Lake is the money and attention thats been spent on the problem and how little either as accomplished. Some of the countrys highest-ranking leaders, including Premier Went Ojibwa, have declared it a national prior ity. Millions of dollars have been poured into the cleanup. And yet, the lake is still a mess. The water remains undrinkable, the fish nearly gone, the fetid smell lingering over villages. [Ibid] At ATA Lake, part of the problem is that the same industrial factories poisoning the water also transformed the region into an economic powerhouse. Shutting them down, local leaders say, would destroy the economy overnight. In fact, many Of the factories shut down during the 2007 scandal have since reopened under different names, environmentalists say. [Ibid] ATA Lake is the embodiment of Chinas losing fight against pollution. This summer, the government said that, despite stricter rules, pollution is rising again across the country in key categories such as emissions of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain. Just months before, the government had revealed that water pollution was more than twice as severe as previous official figures had shown. [Ibid] The algae bloom on Lake ATA was caused by toxic contractible, commonly called pond scum. It turned much of the lake lordliest green and produced a terrible stench that could be smelled miles away from the lake. The Lake ATA bloom became a symbol of Chinas lack of environmental regulations. Afterwards a high-level meeting on the lakes future was convened, with Beijing closing down hundreds of chemical factories and promising to spend S 14. 4 billion to clean up the lake. Lake ATA Activist We Oiling a peasant who worked for a while as a salesman, had been trying to draw attention to the condition of Lake ATA for more than a decade. William Wan wrote in Washington Post, The story of ATA Lake is a story of high-level remises and lower-level reneging, of economic interests superseding environmental ones. And it is an illustration of Chinas awkward relationship with environmental activists, who challenge the governments authority but are often the loudest force pushing its new environmental priorities on the local level-No one knows this story better than We Oiling. For almost two decades, We a peasant living along the lake,- waged a one-man campaign to clean it up. He kept track Of the thousands of factories springing up along its shores and took pictures of the untreated waste they discharged into the cake. He mailed water samples to inspectors, called TV stations and spoke out in the face of threats from factory bosses and local leaders. [Source: William Wan, Washington Post, October 29, 2010] His actions cost him his job, threatened his marriage and landed him in prison for three years. He returned home this spring to find the lake virtually unchanged. Now, with no job prospects and few friends willing to risk a visit, he spends much of his time alone at home, mulling over what he has sacrificed whether it was worth it, and whether he should continue. [Ibid] To hear Wows story Irishman is to witness the paranoia he now lives in. A short, baby-faced man, We, 42, assumes his cellophane is tapped and prefers meeting strangers in obscure spots outside town. After agreeing to take a reporter to his home, We pulls up his shorts to reveal a two-inch scar on his inner thigh. He said he got it a few weeks ago by the lake when two thugs attacked him with a knife. He points to rounder scars along his arm and his hands cigarette burns, he said, from police interrogations. [Ibid] At first, there were other villagers reporting the pollution, too, said Han Yapping, 60, who was one of them. But everyone gave up under the pressure of authorities. He was the only one left. After Chinese and foreign media picked up his Story, We became a national hero and by 2005 was being praised by Chinese and international organizations. That year, Chinas highest-ranking legislative body, the National Peoples Congress, declared him one of Chinas top 10 environmental activists and flew him to a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Lake ATA Activist Harassed, Arrested and Imprisoned Around the time of the algae bloom We Oiling was sentenced to three years n jail on trumped charges. At the time of his arrest he was preparing to go to Beijing with photographs and other documentation of dumping by chemical factories in the lake. We had been particularly outraged by the designation of Hexing, the home of many chemical factories, as a Model City for Environmental Protection. Wows conviction was based on a confession that We said was coerced with torture and five straight days of sleep deprivation. William Wan wrote in Washington Post, All that changed in 2007, when just two years after Beijing lauded him for his work trying to protect the lake We earned that the central government planned to award his city the title of National Model City for Environmental Protection, praising the very local officials We had fought for years. We was furious. He started gathering more evidence, telling friends he planned to sue the central government over the title. Within weeks, he was arrested. [Source: William Wan, Washington post, October 29, 2010] The exact charges changed several times, and most were ultimately dropped. In the end, Wows conviction on two charges of blackmail and fraud relied heavily on his confession, which We says he signed after eyeing hung by the arms for five days and beaten with branches. While he was in prison, authorities put his wife and daughter under 24-hour surveillance. Shortly before Wows release, the guards in front of his house were replaced by three traffic cameras erected on the single-lane road leading to his farmhouse. [Ibid] In the face of this bleak future, We now questions whether he sacrificed everything for nothing. Maybe I should have just focused on making a living, raising my family, he says in his living room, holding his wifes string of carved monkeys. But this is where I live. A man cannot just UN away to Shanghai-La while his home is ruined. Across the room, Wows wife says little. Because We cant find a job, she now works two one at a wool factory and the second, ironically, at a chemical plant on ATA Lake. [Ibid] Improvements at ATA Lake As ATA Lake became a national scandal, hundreds of industrial plants were shut down, local officials were dismissed, and billions of dollars were committed to clean it up. It became part of the new nationwide push to tackle air quality, forest preservation and water pollution. Beijing has earmarked $16 billion to clean up Lake ATA. William Wan wrote in Washington Post, Progress since then, however, has proved elusive. By some standards, the lake has improved. The level of nitrogen and phosphorus ingredients for algae growth have decreased slightly. By others measures, such as overall Water quality, the lake has gotten worse. According to government statistics in July, 85 percent of the lake was put in the worst possible category for water quality, unsuitable for drinking, irrigation or even recreation. [Source: William Wan, Washington Post, October 29, 2010] Meanwhile, plant executives argue they have already done their part by installing new discharge treatment canines. But water quality experts jokingly call the new equipment on/off machines, because they say the machines are only turned on during inspections. But the worst sign of all is the fact that almost every city on the lake has quietly begun finding other sources of drinking water. The projects, which are costly but seldom publicized, indicate that even as local authorities devote billions to repairing the lake, few believe it will recover. The fear is that once these cities no longer depend on the lake for drinking water, the urgency will disappear, said Ma Junk, director of the non-governmental Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. [Ibid] Efforts to Combat Water Pollution in China Water treatment plant Alarmed by the amount of pollution in its rivers, China begun enacting new environmental regulations and laws and taking more action to clean up its rivers. Beijing is closing polluting factories, building new sewage treatment plants and changing agricultural practices.