'Black' reservoir hits food sources
By Wang Qingchu |
February 22, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A RESERVOIR which used to be a scenic area, abounding with fish, in a central China city has turned black as dangerous effluents poured into the reservoir. Authorities have failed to locate the source of the pollution.
The pollution in Tanggang reservoir in Xingyang City, Henan Province, was so serious that even the river downstream has blackened with white foam floating on the surface, Henan Business Daily reported yesterday.
There used to be a lot of fish in the river a year ago, but now almost all life has vanished, a fisherman surnamed Zhao said, covering his nose to avoid the foul odor coming from the river downstream.
Fish farms in the reservoir were wiped out after 500,000 kilograms of fish died last year, said a villager, Tang Chelin. Now the reservoir was blanketed with black water and became a giant "dye vat," Tang added.
Villages close to the reservoir used to use the water from the reservoir to irrigate farmland. But they stopped last spring when the water started to turn black. "This year the drought was so devastating, all the wells dried up, and we had to use the polluted water to irrigate," said a villager Zhao Ailin.
Those wheat fields irrigated by the -tainted water have turned yellow and withered, the -report said.
A total of six sewage pipes can be seen along the reservoir, and there might be some more buried deeper, said an official surnamed Zhou with the management office of the reservoir.
One of the pipes was releasing red-brown water. Zhou suspected it might be the waste water from a nearby chemical factory. Zhou said it's hard to find a factory's sewage pipes as they are usually buried deep underground or are connected to the city's domestic sewage system. "When the environmental watchdog came to carry out a check, the factory stopped releasing waste," Zhou said.
A waste water treatment plant near the reservoir denied it was the source of the pollution.
"Our sewage treatment equipment is on every day. No black water will be discharged from the plant," a worker on duty told the newspaper. But an unnamed insider revealed that the treatment machinery was not always on in an attempt to save on costs.
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The pollution in Tanggang reservoir in Xingyang City, Henan Province, was so serious that even the river downstream has blackened with white foam floating on the surface, Henan Business Daily reported yesterday.
There used to be a lot of fish in the river a year ago, but now almost all life has vanished, a fisherman surnamed Zhao said, covering his nose to avoid the foul odor coming from the river downstream.
Fish farms in the reservoir were wiped out after 500,000 kilograms of fish died last year, said a villager, Tang Chelin. Now the reservoir was blanketed with black water and became a giant "dye vat," Tang added.
Villages close to the reservoir used to use the water from the reservoir to irrigate farmland. But they stopped last spring when the water started to turn black. "This year the drought was so devastating, all the wells dried up, and we had to use the polluted water to irrigate," said a villager Zhao Ailin.
Those wheat fields irrigated by the -tainted water have turned yellow and withered, the -report said.
A total of six sewage pipes can be seen along the reservoir, and there might be some more buried deeper, said an official surnamed Zhou with the management office of the reservoir.
One of the pipes was releasing red-brown water. Zhou suspected it might be the waste water from a nearby chemical factory. Zhou said it's hard to find a factory's sewage pipes as they are usually buried deep underground or are connected to the city's domestic sewage system. "When the environmental watchdog came to carry out a check, the factory stopped releasing waste," Zhou said.
A waste water treatment plant near the reservoir denied it was the source of the pollution.
"Our sewage treatment equipment is on every day. No black water will be discharged from the plant," a worker on duty told the newspaper. But an unnamed insider revealed that the treatment machinery was not always on in an attempt to save on costs.
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