More than ever, increased population and contamination within China has endangered citizens’ access to safe drinking water. Increasingly, pollution from more than 1,700 toxic chemical spills a year and insufficient sewage systems has polluted nearly all major rivers within China and more than 90% of all groundwater (according to a study conducted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.) According to the South China Morning Post, more than 25% of all rivers are even too polluted for industrial use. The magnitude of China’s water resources and reliant population means that these compromised waters are affecting the health of millions and millions of citizens of China and other countries reliant on water originating in China. The map below highlights the Lancang (Mekong) River watershed, one of several watersheds that extend beyond the borders of China.
This issue is, in part, a result of industrialization and the bourgeoning Chinese economy, but these are only the symptoms of a larger problem: insufficient environmental governance. Since China began to industrialize, government has allowed industry to set precedent over environmental health. Like many other countries, China argues that they should be allowed to industrialize without environmental constraint, just as nations like the United States, Great Britain, Spain, etc. were able to historically.
But when pollution of a nation has become so critical that it negatively effects more than 90% of all groundwater, should the Chinese Government establish new precedents? They have put into place several multibillion dollar clean water initiates, but it seems these are just Band-Aids applied an industrial culture that continues to harm its environment. Will these Band-Aids run out?
-John-Michael Murphy
Sources:
News Article: Pollution at the Heart of China’s Water Woes, South China Morning Post, http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1411851/pollution-heart-chinas-water-woes
Featured image: Chinese Water Pollution, NYTimes, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/02/09/world/09cnd-pollutespan/09cnd-pollutespan-articleLarge.jpg
Mekong River Watershed, Wikimedia, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Mekong_River_watershed.png