Authorities hope to stem water pollution
June 12, 2014 Category Environment, Pollution
Following three drinking water pollution incidents in one month, environment officials said they are placing water quality at the top of their list of national environmental challenges this year. “The outlook on water quality nationally is not optimistic, with 9% of the monitoring sections among the 10 major watersheds rated lower than Grade V, the worst level,” Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Li Ganjie said at news conference. Experts have said the government must take tougher measures to protect sources of drinking water and expedite the construction of backup sources. More than 10 drinking water pollution incidents happen each year. The recent string of incidents began on April 10 in Lanzhou, Gansu province. City authorities detected excessive benzene in the tap water and shut down water lines for five days in some parts of the city, resulting in frenetic purchasing of liquids at supermarkets. On April 23, authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province, suspended its tap water for more than 16 hours after excessive ammonia nitrogen was discovered in the Hanjiang river. On May 9, the government of Jingjiang, a city along the Yangtze river in Jiangsu province, suspended its tap water sourced from the river for seven hours after a “pungent smell” was detected. Zhang Xiaojian, Professor at the School of the Environment at Tsinghua University, said that among all sources of drinking water-including rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater-rivers pose the greatest risk as many industrial facilities are located close by. China raised the number of water quality indicators on July 1, 2012 to 106 from 35, but fewer than 10 indicators among the 106 are officially tested on a daily basis. Some are tested once a month, twice a year, or every two years. Half of the cities in China have only one drinking water source. Once water pollution incidents occur, cities become paralyzed, said Li Yuanyuan, Deputy Dean of the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world