Ive been noticing a lot of stories about water pollution in China lately. Ive never been to China, but reports Ive read over the past couple of decades led me to believe that many water resources in China are heavily polluted, and the booming Chinese economy has been increasing the pressure on water resources. But there may be some good news as well.
The first story I read (Science 333(6047):1210-1211) concerned Lake Taihu in east-central China, China’s third largest lake. Due to runoff from industry, agriculture, and sewage in the past 30 years, the lake’s ecosystem is in serious decline, primarily due to massive blooms of the blue-green algae Microcystis aeruginosa. In addition to giving the lake a hideous pea-green color, the algae produce human toxins, causing periodic loss of drinking water to millions of people. We have algal bloom problems in the U.S., but nothing this serious.
Photo: HANS W. PAERL/UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL
Another story (BBC and NY Times) reported on the release of toxic waste containing “high levels” of fluoride (I have not seen actual concentrations reported) into a river by Jinko Solar, a company that makes solar panels. Thousands of fish were killed. High levels of fluoride can also be toxic to humans. An interesting aspect of the story is that the pollution provoked violent protests by local villagers who felt violated by the company’s activities.
China also showed up a couple of times in the documentary “Bag It” about plastics in the environment, which I watched the other night. On the positive side, China has banned thin plastic bags, those scourges of the environment. On the negative side, China and other East Asian countries import billions of pounds of discarded plastic from the U.S. Low-wage earners pick through the garbage to pull out materials that can be economically recycled. Conditions for the workers are terrible, and reprocessing of plastics is a dirty industry.
I don’t want to pick on China. In some ways China resembles the U.S. of 100-150 years ago. Our industry was booming, and little thought was given to waste and pollution. If you want to read about truly horrific pollution, look no further than the stock yards and slaughterhouses of Chicago around the turn of the 20th century. Their autocratic government can do things, good and bad, that ours can’t. Witness the unilateral ban of plastic bags, but also the muffling of environmental dissidents. It was encouraging to me to see grass-roots protest of polluters, of Chinese citizens demanding a clean environment.
A few additional observations. First, a supposedly green company, producing solar panels, being a major polluter. Even green companies can produce toxic waste that needs to be properly dealt with. Second, just because we toss something into the recycling bin doesn’t mean it actually gets recycled. Most of it ends up as garbage, some here, some in China. Third, while we have serious environmental problems, in many parts of the developing world things are much, much worse. Small comfort, but we’ve come a long way since I was a kid.