Water Pollution

WATER POLLUTION IN CHINA

BY CHRIS GRAHAM

INSTRUCTOR: SHAWN MAISON

Water pollution rates in China are amongst the highest anywhere else in the world. The local population are being slowly poisoned and being put at the risk of cancer, serious illness and even death, due to the high levels of toxins and pollutants which are to be found in their water supplies. These water supplies are used to bathe in, drink, water the crops, and used for cooking and fishing in amongst a variety of other uses. Large steel and chemical factories in cities all over the country openly spew their toxic pollutants into the water. Soot, ash and sulphur dioxide, along with the run-offs and chemicals from their machines, are pumped, tipped and channelled in to the rivers and lakes, instead of being disposed of safely. There are minimal or no governmental pollution controls in place to prevent this from happening and to protect the lives of the people it affects. Even state run enterprises are polluting the water, with the construction of a petrochemical plant underway.

“The primary industries in Tianjin … discharged heavy metals, particularly cadmium, zinc, and some organic-metallic compounds, have caused a serious threat to public health and the environment… Most of the effluent is directly discharged into the water systems such as rivers, lakes, and oceans as point source pollution. If these pollutants are not at excess, the streams can self-purify. However, if the chemical pollutants are discharged at excess amounts, this will disrupt the ecosystem by the death of fishes and offensive odours can occur.” Wastewater in

China: Min, K

Water pollution in China is largely due to the bulk of the population being uneducated. The Chinese people do not realise the effects of the pollution that is happening around them, therefore they have no say in how it is controlled, and no opinion on whether it should be allowed to continue. It is only the richest of families who would have the...