China Focus: Discolored river highlights troubled waters

A discolored river in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has highlighted water pollution woes.

A section of the Weihe River, the longest tributary of the Yellow River, is thick with pig excrement, according to a report carried Tuesday by the local Huashang Newspaper.

The provincial department of environmental protection confirmed the pollution on microblog Sina Weibo, saying on its official account that the river water near Dazhangsi Village of Baoji City contained 331.3 mg of ammonia nitrogen per liter of water during an inspection, 26.6 times the national standard. Its chemical oxygen demand was 227 times the national standard, meaning it is heavily polluted, according to the department.

"This pollution problem has haunted us for years," a villager told the newspaper. "As temperatures rise, the odor it gives out is just hard to bear."

Pictures on web portal 163.com show a crimson-colored section of the river. A story about the pollution drew more than 20,000 comments by 6 p.m. Wednesday, with many users questioning how a major water source can be turned into "troubled water."

"Chinese legend has it that the Dragon King (a king in charge of the rain) lives in the Weihe River," wrote user "Kekoukelene." "He must have relocated now due to the heavy smell!"

The incident comes on the heels of a similar scandal. Last week, a chemical plant in east China's Jiangxi Province, which was forcibly closed a year earlier, not only continued to operate but also reportedly dumped untreated water into a major water source.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has launched an investigation into the case, in which chemical contamination at Xiannv Lake, in Xinyu City, disrupted water supply to about 20,000 people.

The revised Environmental Protection Law has brought heavier punishments for those who fail to rectify violations, but more than one year after it came into effect, water pollution remains a headache for the authorities.

According to a survey released by the Ministry of Water Resources last week, of the 2,103 surveyed wells on the vast plains of north China, 1,685, or 80.2 percent, contain undrinkable shallow groundwater. Some samples showed the water was contaminated with heavy metal and toxic organic compounds.

An investigation by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in February showed that more than 70 percent of the country's 295 cities at the prefecture level or higher have "black" and "foul" waterways, 60 percent are along the industry-heavy eastern seaboard.

Sample tests from the country's major waterways, including the Yangtze, Pearl and Haihe rivers, all showed traces of antibiotics, the Pearl River in south China was the most severely polluted, according to China's state broadcaster CCTV.

Wang Xiaojun, a professor with the College of Environment and Energy at South China University of Technology, said some small company heads assume they will not be caught.

"Some bigger companies are backed by 'shelters,'" Wang said, explaining that these "shelters" are local officials who rely on taxes from polluting companies.

Huang Shaohua, a professor with the Philosophy and Sociology School of Lanzhou University, said lax supervision must be addressed.

To tackle the problem, the government needs to improve cooperation with the public and encourage them to report incidents, said Luo Guo'an, a research fellow with Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences.

Luo added that the government should step up investment in environmental protection, particularly at the local level.

"Specific penalties are needed to target those who violate environmental regulations," he added. Endi