Groundwater supplies polluted in 90% of cities in China
Groundwater supplies polluted in 90% of cities in China
mongabay.com
December 3, 2006
Groundwater water supplies are polluted or overexploited in about 9 out of every 10 Chinese cities according to official state media.
Reuters reports that Xinhua interviewed Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, who said “Groundwater is now contaminated in about 90 percent of the nation’s cities,” Xinhua also quoted a local water expert as saying that recovery could take hundreds of years.
“Groundwater needs an unimaginable length of time to become clean. Prevention is all we can do,” water expert Ma Jun reportedly said.
About 300 million Chinese drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants according to a new report released last year by the Chinese government. Chemical pollutants and other harmful substances that contaminate drinking supplies for 190 million people.
Water scarcity is an emerging problem in China which has less than one third of the global per capita average of water resources. In the past, the government has considered where massive river relocation projects to shift water from the south to the dry north.
RELATED ARTICLE
China’s Imminent Water Crisis Back in 1999, Wen Jinbao, a Chinese deputy prime minister, warned of the dire water situation in China and of looming water shortages. Since then, Mr. Wen has assumed the post of prime minister and pledged to provide clean water for his people. His administration has guaranteed an additional $240 million this year to achieve this end. However, this amount may not be nearly enough to satisfy China’s massive demand. The country has long suffered from alternating periods of severe flooding and drought. Combined with high pollution levels and a history of heedless and haphazard policies, the country is witnessing a precipitous drop in this most essential supply. High ranking officials and international agencies alike are deeply concerned about the situation and with good reason.
.
This article use information from Reuters, Xinhua, and past mongabay.com articles.