Drought Hits Millions In Southwestern China As Polluted Lake Forces Factory Shutdown
Pastor Dale Morgan
Drought Hits Millions In Southwestern China As Polluted Lake Forces
Factory Shutdown
*
Beijing (AFP) Jun 05, 2007
A severe drought has left four million people short of drinking water in
southwest China, state media reported Tuesday, as the vast country
battles a crippling water shortage. Some 4.46 million head of livestock
were also affected by the drought in Sichuan, where parts of the
province have not seen any rain for up to 40 days, Xinhua news agency
reported, citing the province's meteorological bureau.
Around 110,000 people are depending on deliveries of water by truck,
according to the provincial water resources department.
The drought has also prevented large areas of farmland from being seeded
because of a lack of moisture and many of the crops that have been
planted have shrivelled, the report added.
Last month, more than 4.8 million people in northern Gansu province
faced similar shortages following the worst drought there since the
1940s, Xinhua said, citing state drought relief authorities.
China last year suffered a range of extreme weather events, including
exceptionally strong typhoons, floods and droughts, which local
meteorological officials have partly attributed to the effects of
climate change.
earlier related report
*China shuts down plants on polluted lake*
Beijing (AFP) Jun 5 - Authorities have ordered heavily polluting
industries around China's third largest freshwater lake to close after
drinking water for millions of people was contaminated, a top official
said Tuesday. More than two million people in Wuxi city in the eastern
province of Jiangsu were left without clean tap water to drink or wash
in last week due to an algae bloom choking Taihu lake, once renowned for
its scenic beauty.
"We are strengthening our supervision and inspecting every enterprise
that is discharging nitrogen and phosphorus," vice environment minister
Zhang Lijun told journalists.
"Those that are exceeding limits will be shut down and those that are
within the standards will be further restricted to what Taihu lake is
capable of withstanding."
All enterprises in the area that discharge phosphorus and nitrogen --
chemicals widely used in fertilisers and soap powders that were the main
causes of the algae bloom -- would also have to re-register for
discharge permits, he added.
The filthy water became apparent last month, when low levels in the lake
and an accumulation of industrial waste and untreated raw sewage sparked
the putrid algae growth.
Extra water from China's longest river, the Yangtze, was being diverted
into the lake to dilute the pollution, while boats have already removed
up to 6,000 tons of algae, according to Zhang.
According to Wuxi vice mayor Liu Hongzhi, 502 factories in the area will
need to be relicensed to discharge waste, while monitoring will be
stepped up on 22 key polluting industries, Xinhua news agency said.
In the city of Changzhou, which has two rivers leading into Taihu lake,
82 printing and dyeing, pharmaceutical and chemical plants have also
been ordered to halt the discharge of industrial waste, the report said.
Meanwhile Zhang voiced support for jailed environmental campaigner Wu
Yilong, who was arrested last month after a long campaign aimed at
getting the local government to close down those companies polluting
Taihu lake.
Zhang acknowledged that Wu had been arrested but refused to comment on
the bribery charges lodged by the government of Yixing city, on the
other side of the lake from Wuxi, that landed him in jail.
he also refused to comment on claims by Wu's wife that the activist had
been tortured by police while in custody.
"As far as those people who are concerned about protecting the
environment, in the past these people have been viewed as family to the
environmental protection administration, they are our allies," Zhang said.
"There is no way that we would treat these people as enemies."
Source: Agence France-Presse