A wake-up call to save the Yangtze, while the Taihu lake pollution saga is on everybody’s minds, translated from China Environment Daily:
The Yangtze River is known as one of the country’s “mother rivers,” feeding 400 million Chinese in 11 provinces, including Shanghai. It is also host to nearly 10,000 chemical plants, out of total 21,000 across China. Localities along the river have all been touting their strategic riverside significance in an effort to push economic development, leading to various “fevers,” including port fever (Ê∏ØÂè£ÁÉ≠), riverside urbanization fever (ÂüéÂ∏Ǫ∫ËÆæʪ®Ê±üÁÉ≠), big bridge fever (§ßÊ°•ÁÉ≠) and now chemical fever (Ê≤øʱüÂåñÂ∑•ÁÉ≠). Along with encouraging GDP numbers, all these fevers also come with a hefty price tag.
More than 20 chemical industry parks are either under construction or being planned along the Yangtze, and 81% of them sit on environmental fragile zones. In 2005, research has found, 30 billion tons of waste water was dumped into the river, 70% being industrial waste water.
Many local officials play up their investment attraction pitches by declaring riverside mileages. And “industrial parks” have pretty much become “chemical parks” in many cases. Environmental assessment report? No problem, the officials will take care of all that. Some claim 100% of the waste water from their parks is treated, but the reality may well be quite different.
This writer advises the toughening of environmental screening prior to allowing chemical plants to open along the river and restrictions the number of small factories with poor environmental awareness. [Full Text in Chinese]
[Image: Yangtze River via Wikipedia]
