China: ground water polluted in 9 out of 10 cities

Chinese cities are facing serious groundwater contamination, a senior Chinese environmental official has warned. The China News Service quoted the vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration, Zhang Lijun, as saying that underground water has been contaminated in some 90% of Chinese cities. The minister produced the figure at an environmental meeting in Beijing, where experts had gathered to discuss groundwater pollution. Groundwater provides potable water for nearly 70% of China’s population and irrigation for some 40% of its agricultural land.

In Shanghai, the country's biggest and wealthiest city, canals bubble with pollution even in cold weather. The city's tap water, drawn partly from the heavily polluted Yangtze River, is yellowish and smelly, despite efforts to clean up local waterways. The Chinese government has won its first lawsuit against three companies in Inner Mongolia, who have agreed to pay US$ 285,100 (EUR 232,250) in fines for polluting over 400 km of the Yellow River in 2004

Source: The Star, 29 Dec 2005

Keywords

• Water quality