I worked in the Yunnan Province of China for 6 months in 1976 - 1977. Our guest house was located right on the Yangtze River. The heads on the boats plying the river were just holes in the ship's fantail and dumped straight into the river. The villages along the river drew their drinking and irrigation water from the river and there were no sanitary works to clean the water. The only purification was to boil the water. Houses in the nearby village had no running water, no electricity, no sewer, no glass for the window and dirt floors in the single room. To answer nature's call, you walked to the honey pots situated among the houses and stuck your bare bum over the edge. It was like a trip back in time about 2,000 years.
And "poof" goes the myth of the Socialist Workers' Paradise.
We will soon see in China why I don't worry more about the environment. Without clean fresh water to drink and enough healthy food, humans don't survive long. And once the human population drops, their impact on the environment is reduced.
Amazing that the Romans knew the importance of safe water supplies (messing with an aqueduct carried the death penalty) and sanitation. In some parts of the world, we're still 3000 years behind the times.
When you look at the waterways, you will believe the extent of the pollution. One time I saw a body floating down the Yangzi. The Chinese on the boat never batted an eyelash.
An improvement! It used to be about 99%!
It's OK- they can just buy some "Kyoto Credits" and all will be forgiven.
ping
BEIJING, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - About 100 tons of chemicals were released into the Songhua River following an accident in a Chinese petrochemicals plant on November 13, the deputy head of the Chinese Environmental Protection Administration said Thursday. Beijing insists that it informed Russia in good time about the spill into the Songhua River, which flows out of northeast China into the Amur River on the Russian-Chinese border and on through the Khabarovsk Region.
The official said Thursday at a press conference in Beijing that the petrochemicals would not reach the Amur River for another 14 days.
Judging by current data, the level of pollution will gradually decrease, he said.
"We have informed the Russian side in detail of the current state of affairs... We believe that there is still sufficient time," he said.
A state of emergency will be declared in the Khabarovsk Region as of November 25.
No surprise, they have no incentive to clean up their country. (Look at Mexico.)
70pct is a LOWWW estimate from what I've seen.
Well, they can spend a few bucks on EPA and reverse the course. Better yet, they can have our EPA and we can get back our prosperity. (just kidding)