One-third of China's Yellow river 'unfit for drinking or agriculture'

Factory waste and sewage from growing cities has severely polluted major waterway, according to Chinese research

Tania Branigan, guardian.co.uk 25 Nov 08;

Severe pollution has made one-third of China's Yellow river unusable, according to new research.

Known as the country's "mother river", it supplies water to millions of people in the north of China. But in recent years the quality has deteriorated due to factory discharges and sewage from fast-expanding cities.

Much of it is now unfit even for agricultural or industrial use, the study shows.

The survey, based on data taken last year, covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, one of the longest waterways in the world, and its tributaries.

The Yellow River Conservancy Committee, affiliated to the ministry of water resources, said 33.8% of the river system's water sampled in 2007 registered worse than level five. That means it is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the UN Environment Programme.

Only 16% of the river samples reached level one or two, the standard considered safe for domestic use.

The Yellow River is China's second-longest after the Yangtze, flowing west to east across the country through areas with high concentrations of factories.

The report said waste and sewage water discharged into the system last year totalled 4.29bn tonnes. Industry and manufacturing made up 70% of the discharge into the river, with households accounting for 23% and just over 6% coming from other sources.

"It's not surprising," said Wen Bo, China programme director of the US-based environmental group, Pacific Environment. "They are just treating the river as a dumping site. It's basically a sewage channel for the provinces that share the river."

He told Associated Press that many polluting firms in the upper and middle reaches of Yellow river have avoided close local government scrutiny or had been protected because they provided jobs. There was no mechanism to allow richer provinces downstream to help poorer, polluting neighbours clean up, he added.

Li Xiaoqiang, publicity chief with the Yellow River Conservancy Committee, told the state news agency, Xinhua, that people needed to become aware of saving and protecting water if the problem was not to spread further.

China's State Council launched a nationwide campaign among industrial enterprises to save energy and slash the discharge of pollutants in the second half of last year.

"I wish a harmony could be achieved between development, utilisation, and protection of the river someday," said Li.

A survey taken the previous year showed that 31.1% of the water was of level five standard, although the area sampled was slightly smaller. The total waste and sewage water discharged into the system was also slightly lower.

The ministry of environmental protection warned this summer that pollution of China's waterways remained "grave". More than 20% of water tested in nearly 200 rivers was not safe to use, it added.

The ministry has tried to shut down polluting factories along China's main waterways, but its power is limited because local environmental protection bureaus are under the control of local governments.

Yellow River too polluted to drink
The Yellow River, which provides water to millions of people i
Malcolm Moore, The Telegraph 25 Nov 08;

China's heavy industries have tipped so much waste into the river that enormous stretches of it, amounting to over a third of its entire length, cannot be used at all anymore, either for drinking, fishing, farming or even in factories, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Programme.

The Yellow River is the second-longest waterway in China after the Yangtze and the sixth-longest in the world, at 3,398 miles. Originating in the mountains around the Tibetan plateau at Qinghai, it empties out into the Bohai Sea on China's East coast.

It is tremendously important in Chinese culture, and the first signs of civilisation in northern China sprang up around the Yellow River basin, despite its frequent and devastating flooding. The river flows through are China's industrial heartland, and many of the regions it passes are short on water.

But in recent years it has suffered from heavy pollution and from projects to divert its waters to cities. Li Xiaoqiang, a spokesman for the Yellow River Conservation Committee, said 4.3 billion tonnes of polluting effluent were tipped into the river last year, mostly by factories.

Mr Li called for "urgent action" to save the river, and added forlornly: "I wish that a harmony could be achieved between development, utilisation and protection of the river someday."

He said a move by the State Council, China's cabinet, to force factories to save energy and reduce pollution could eventually pay dividends. "It is a good thing, but it will take an arduous effort," he said.

Two years ago, the pollution levels of the Yellow River gained national attention when a stretch of water around the western city of Lanzhou turned magenta. Xinhua, the state news agency, blamed the "red and smelly" slick on a sewage discharge.

China boasts some of the world's most polluted cities. In February, 200,000 people had their water cut off in central China because of a spill into a river system. In September, a major lake near Kunming was heavily polluted with arsenic, leading to several cases of poisoning.

In one of China's worst cases of river pollution, potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene, spilt into the Songhua River in November 2005. The northeastern city of Harbin was forced to sever water supplies to 3.8 million people for five days.

Pollution in China's waterways remains "grave," according to a June report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on the state of the environment in 2007. More than 20 per cent of water tested in nearly 200 rivers was not safe to use, it said.

One-third of China's Yellow River polluted
Hernry Sanderson, Associated Press 25 Nov 08;

BEIJING (AP) — Newly released scientific results show one-third of the famed Yellow River, which supplies water to millions of people in northern China, is heavily polluted by industrial waste and unsafe for any use.

The Yellow River, the second-longest in China, has seen its water quality deteriorate rapidly in the last few years, as discharge from factories increases and water levels drop because of diversion for booming cities.

The river supplies a region chronically short of water but rich in industry.

The Yellow River Conservancy Committee said 33.8 percent of the river's water sampled registered worse than level 5, meaning it's unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Program.

A 2007 survey covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, which flows from western Qinghai province across China into the Bohai sea, and its tributaries, a notice posted on the committee's Web site Saturday said.

Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — water considered safe for household use.

Industry and manufacturing made up 70 percent of the discharge into the river, the notice said, with 23 percent coming from households and 6.4 percent from other sources. The notice did not identify specific pollutants.

The results showed pollution has gotten slightly worse since 2006, when 31 percent of the water in the river was poorer than a level 5, according to an earlier survey.

"It's not surprising," said Wen Bo, of the San Francisco, California-based environmental group Pacific Environment.

Many polluting firms in the upper and middle reaches of Yellow River have not been well monitored by local governments, and even protected because they give jobs to workers, said Wen, who is the organization's China program director.

There is also no mechanism for richer provinces downstream to help the poorer ones upstream clean up, he said.

"They are just treating the river as a dumping site," Wen said. "It's basically a sewage channel for the provinces that share the river."

Some of the world's most polluted cities are in China, where many rivers and lakes are toxic after decades of breakneck industrial and economic growth.

In February pollution turned part of a major river system in central China red and foamy, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200,000 people.

In one of China's worst cases of river pollution, potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene, spilled into the Songhua River in November 2005. The northeastern city of Harbin was forced to sever water supplies to 3.8 million people for five days.

Pollution in China's waterways remains "grave," according to a June report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on the state of the environment in 2007. More than 20 percent of water tested in nearly 200 rivers was not safe to use, it said.

The ministry has tried to shut down polluting factories along China's main waterways, but its power is limited because local environmental protection bureaus are under the control of local governments.