MCLC: environment official challenged to swim in river

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: environment official challenged to swim in river
**************************************************************

Source: The Guardian (2/21/13):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/21/chinese-official-swim-pol
luted-river

Chinese environment official challenged to swim in polluted river
Bao Zhenming, who declined to take up the challenge was offered over
£20,000 to swim in the contaminated waterway
By Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing

Widespread outrage against China's environmental issues that began when
Beijing's air pollution hit record levels last month has spread to
encompass another major public health threat: water pollution.

Last week, an eyeglass-retailer executive from Rui'an City, coastal
Zhejiang province, offered the city's environmental protection chief Bao
Zhenming more than £20,000 to take a 20-minute dip in a highly polluted
local river. The entrepreneur, Jin Zengmin, posted the dare to his
microblog beneath pictures showing the waterway overflowing with discarded
aluminum cans, polystyrene boxes and paper lanterns. He blamed the river's
industrial demise on dumping by a local rubber shoe factory.

The Rui'an government responded by saying that most of the river's
pollution was caused by individuals, not factories, and could be
attributed to overpopulation. Bao has since declined the offer
<http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1153787/polluted-river-not-my-respo
nsibility-says-chinese-official-after-reward>.

"Finally this issue [water pollution] has aroused the attention of the
general public," said Ma Jun, head of the Beijing-based Institute of
Public and Environmental Affairs. "Although it's going to take a long time
[to fix], now we have seen a starting point."

The challenge to Bao came as the government announced on Thursday that it
will force heavily polluting industries to participate in a compulsory
insurance programme to ensure they can adequately provide compensation for
damage.

The mining and smelting industries must participate in the scheme, along
with lead battery manufacturers, leather goods firms and chemical
factories. Petrochemical companies and firms that make hazardous chemicals
and hazardous waste would also be encouraged to participate.

China's water pollution woes are not a new story. The head of China's
ministry of water resources said last year that up to 40% of the country's
rivers are "seriously polluted", and an official report from last summer
found that up to 200 million rural Chinese have no access to clean
drinking water.

China's lakes are often affected by pollution-induced algae blooms,
causing the surface of the water to turn a bright iridescent green
<http://english.caixin.com/2013-02-19/100492213.html>. Yet even greater
threats may lurk underground. A recent government study found
<http://www.danwei.com/the-groundwater-of-90-of-chinese-cities-is-polluted/
> that groundwater in 90% of China's cities is contaminated, most of it
>severely. Chinese media responded with surprising urgency – the Straits
>Times newspaper in southeastern Fujian province presented the findings in
>a full front-page spread.

"Groundwater is a key source of drinking water, industrial and
agricultural use, especially in northern China," said Ma. "If this
resource gets contaminated, it's far more difficult to restore than
surface water or the air."

Ground zero for the recent flurry of online outrage is Weifang, a city of
8 million in coastal Shandong province that's known primarily for its
annual kite-flying festival. Last week, Weifang's internet users accused
local paper mills and chemical plants of directly pumping industrial waste
into the city's water supply 1,000 meters underground, causing cancer
rates in the area to skyrocket.

"I was just angry after receiving information from Web users saying that
the groundwater in Shandong had been polluted and I forwarded it online,"
Deng Fei, a reporter whose microblog posts sparked the allegations, told
the state-run Global Times. "But it came as a surprise to me that after I
sent out these posts, many people from different places in northern and
eastern China all complained that their hometowns have been similarly
polluted."

Weifang officials have offered a reward of about £10,000 to anyone who can
provide evidence of illegal wastewater dumping. According to a Weifang
Communist party committee spokesperson
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-02/18/c_124355220.htm>,
local authorities have investigated 715 companies and have yet to find any
evidence of wrongdoing.