Water Pollution Crisis and Improvement Measures in China
Executive Summary
China is the leading industrial giant of the world, and apparently, the most progressive country in the past few decades. However, to achieve global recognition at all levels, China’s government overlooked various factors while initiating the process of urbanization and industrialization. Large number of industries sprouted within a few years but poor systematic network and municipal planning resulted in adversely affecting the already scarce fresh water sources in China. All the major rivers and lakes have become so polluted that people are dying by drinking the water. Numerous ailments, environmental problems, societal disturbances and economic burdens are faced by Chinese government for exploiting and overusing fresh water sources. Today, China stands at a crossroad where little choices are left to protect and preserve the natural reservoirs. This paper highlights the reasons behind the water-pollution crisis in China, along with the significant pollutants plaguing the purity of its water sources. Furthermore, some notable suggestions are also included, which might prove helpful in controlling this grave crisis.
Introduction:
Water pollution in China has become an issue of great concern lately, and its water sources have been declared highly polluted. China is counted among the highly-established industrial powers of the world, however; post the economic boom, water pollution is getting increasingly uncontrollable here. Chinese’s fresh water sources have become excessively contaminated, and the crisis has spread from ‘land to coastal regions, surface to ground water, single pollution to compound, and from conventional to non-conventional pollutants’ (Liu, Shao & Wang, 2012, p.103). This paper is a research report that highlights significant pollutants found in Chinese water-sources, the harm that these impose on human health and the salient perpetrators of water pollution in the country. This report will also propose some workable solutions that might prove helpful in controlling this crisis.
Pollutants found in China’s water sources:
China’s biggest concern in the current scenario is of conventional pollutants. The country’s water sources have been declared as completely unsuitable for both drinking, and swimming purposes (Yongqiang, 2013). Here is a brief description of the significant water pollutants found in the water:
Chlorine:
Chinese waters are so contaminated that two of the seven rivers Huangpu and Yangtze rank as the most polluted rivers around the world. To overcome the high proportion of pollutants present in fresh water, the departments of water works add large portions of chlorine to disinfect it, however, it ultimately becomes poisonous because heavily chlorinated water creates harmful by-products, e.g. Trichlormethane (EPA, 1998, p.105). In China, this water is used for drinking purpose and in other routinely activities like bathing, cooking, due to which it gets absorbed in the skin. American Journal of Public Health describes that chlorine induces ‘certain types of cancer, asthma, premature aging and skin irritations’ in the human body. (PureLiving China, 2004)
Bacteria/Viruses:
Bacteria are present in high proportions in Chinese water sources, including the dangerous Giardia Lamblia and Cryptosporidium. These are so powerful that even disinfectants like chlorine cannot eliminate them. On the contrary, chlorine has a tendency to react with these bacteria and create salient problematic by-products like haloacetic acids. Such bacteria and microorganisms present in water can cause gastrointestinal illness, giardiasis, and Hepatitis A, and can substantially affect the normal physical and psychological development of kids. (PureLiving China, 2004)
Lead and corrosion:
Tap water in China, no matter how highly-purified it becomes after the filtration process, has equal chances of catching secondary contaminations as it passes through the biofilm of pipes towards faucets. China’s water administration authorities have not paid attention to the renovation of water pipelines and in major cities like Shanghai, about 20% of the operating pipelines are more than fifty years old (PureLiving China, 2004). Due to the accumulation of sediments and rust, water becomes laden with heavy-metals like lead and corrosion. Lead is a highly poisonous metal which can induce anemic disorder, kidney troubles, colon cancer and even neurological damage, especially in young kids. (PureLiving China, 2004)
Nitrates:
Fertilizers, pesticides, certain organic matter and herbicides produce nitrates in water, which adversely affect the health of infants and kids drastically. It blocks the oxygen transmission capability of blood, and can generate nitrites in kid’s intestines, which ultimately cause blue-baby disease, shortness-of-breath and anemia. (EPA, 1998, p.106)
Arsenic, Fluorine and Sulfates:
In China, drinking water is contaminated with high proportions of metals like arsenic, fluorine and sulfates. It is mostly caused by radiation, and is also common in well-water that is drunk by around 20 million people in China. These are potential initiators of various cancers like liver, stomach and esophageal. (EPA, 1998, p.107)
Causes of water crisis in China:
Water gets contaminated at various levels, and no single aspect is behind the current devastating water shortage and crisis in China. The significant factors of water pollution throughout the country are as follows.
Environmental factors:
Although China has progressed superlatively in the past few decades, this economic growth has been achieved at the cost of exploiting the natural environment and ecosystem. Dr. Elizabeth, director of Asia Studies, writes:
Forest resources have been depleted, triggering a range of devastating secondary impacts such as desertification, flooding and species loss. Moreover, poorly regulated industrial and household emissions and waste have caused levels of water and air pollution to skyrocket. (Economy, 2003)
Negligence towards preserving natural resources has resulted in encouraging ozone depletion, biodiversity/wetlands loss, deforestation, decreased aquatic life, shrinking/drying of natural lakes and streams and frequency of floods and droughts. China’s reliance on coal promoted acid rain due to sulfur dioxide emissions, and this substantially lowered the PH level of fresh water sources, thus, exacerbating the water-pollution. To boost the country’s economy, environmental concerns were largely ignored paving the way for serious disasters that massively affected water sources. (Economy 2013) Accidents like the chemical plant explosion in Jiljin city during 2005 which infected Songhua River ‘with 100 tons of benzene-related pollutants’, contamination of Yuexi River in 2006 by toxins spilled from a plant in Sichuan Province, and the blue-green algal outbreak of 2007, which contaminated the tap water of the whole city of Wuxi, became a frequent occurrence. A more recent example is the December 2012 explosion at a chemical factory in Shanxi province that leaked ‘38.7 tons of aniline’ in the river (Yongqiang 2013). The environmental factors that pollute water are mainly due to industrial wastewater, and reportedly, it results in ‘60,000 premature deaths annually’. (Economy, 2013)
Industrial factors:
Wang et al (2007, p.648) described that ‘Growing municipal and industrial waste discharges, coupled with limited wastewater treatment capacity, are the principal drivers of water pollution’. Industries (both in rural and urban areas) play a significant role in contaminating water sources in China. The huge amount of untreated waste and chemicals (such as beryllium, manganese, nonylphenol and tetrabromobisphenol) are dumped into rivers, lakes and sea, which pollutes the water. For instance, Yangtze River Water Resources Commission reported that the total discharged industrial toxicants in the Yangtze reached 26billion tons in 2005 (Economy 2013). Industrial discharge accounts for about two-third of the total waste dumped into water sources in China, and 80% of this is untreated, which causes water polluting accidents and according to SEPA, around 1,700 such accidents happen annually. Rural industries not only consume and waste large quantity of water through ‘inefficient irrigation practices’, and ‘leaking water pipes’, but pollute it immensely as well due to ‘out-dated wastewater treatment facilities’, and lack of proper knowledge about dumping industrial waste. (Wang et al, 2007, p.649)
In urban areas, industries are in abundance and situated nearer to water sources. For example, there are at least 10,000 petrochemical plants near the Yangtze and 4000 plants along the Yellow Rivers (Economy 2013). Furthermore, increasing number of diverse industries, e.g. power plants, drugs and fertilizer makers, textile, steel and paper mills are spreading water pollution constantly. Beijing reportedly did not even produce pencils in 1950s and within just three decades, it ‘boasted 700 factories and 2000 blast furnaces belching soot in the air’ (Economy 2013) This is continually polluting China’s surface water, which in turn is contaminating fertility of agronomic lands, poisoning food and grains and creating illnesses.
Cultural Factors:
China is a water-scarce country, and its inhabitants areas are not just wasting water supplies, but also discharging huge proportions of waste like organic matter, biological and household sewage into the water sources. There is no prevailing network of collecting and dumping household garbage, which is later thrown into the rivers and results in poisoning fresh water. Due to hazardous substances present in the water, it’s essential nutrients turn into life-threatening viruses and bacteria making ‘35.6 percent of drinking water in China non-drinkable’ (Jing, 2011). It is also a fact that about 600million residents of China’s drink water that is tainted with human or animal waste. Improper sewage and wastewater treatment plans for domestic areas and poorly constructed urban drainage systems are prominent malefactors of promoting water pollution. This crisis is certainly intensified by the increasing population in China. People residing in cities alongside rivers dump their garbage and salient impurities directly into the river, which is a practice that must be prohibited by the government. Another aspect is the negligent attitude of public towards water pollution, and one significant example is the dumping of animal carcasses into rivers and lakes. According to The Guardian, ‘16,000 diseased pig carcasses were found in tributaries of the Huangpu river in 2013’ (Davison 2013). Such incidents happen because although China has established its food and pig industry globally, little awareness has been created among the farmers about discarding diseased animals and their carcasses. This is an issue of great concern since the environmental protection bureau of Zhejiang province reported that ‘7.7m pigs are raised in Jiaxing with a mortality rate of 2-4%, and up to 300,000 carcasses to be disposed annually’ (Davison 2013).
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