Posted on 07/15/2007 6:52:13 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
GUANGZHOU (Reuters) - Leaders of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou led thousands in a "swimathon" across the Pearl River on Sunday to trumpet its recent cleanup -- at a time of mounting water pollution crises across the country.
Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning fired a starter's gun before leading more than 3,500 people in a much hyped swim across the river, China's third longest, whose lower reaches had been seriously polluted by rapid industrialization.
The swim, an annual event, was abandoned in the 1970s because of the chronic pollution and resurrected only last year.
Years of promoting economic growth at almost any cost have taken their toll of China's environment, though growing rural discontent caused by dirty water and other pollution has pushed Beijing to promote cleaner growth.
A state media website quoted Zhang as saying the aim of the mass swim was to "make the local residents become aware of the importance of pollution control."
A government report released in May said pollution at the mouth of the Pearl River delta was "extremely severe," and that 8.3 billion metric tons of sewage, much of it untreated, was flushed into the province's coastal waters last year, a 60 percent jump from 2001.
Sunday's 800-metre swim was meant to hail the success of recent cleanup initiatives including new sewage treatment plants -- but some swimmers weren't convinced.
"The water really stinks over there," said one participant surnamed Zhao, who rinsed his mouth with a freshwater hose at the finish. "You can see. The water's black," he added.
Ma Jun, a leading environmental campaigner and water pollution expert, said water pollution was worse in other parts of China. "In many other cities, the water quality is much worse ... The Pearl River is one of the cleaner rivers," Ma said.
Several large freshwater lakes including Taihu Lake were recently blanketed with toxic green-blue algae, feeding on effluent discharged from nearby farms, homes and factories. Millions in nearby Wuxi city had tap water cut off as a result.
Underground water reserves in 9 out of every 10 Chinese cities are now polluted or over-exploited, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration.
I remember learning to swim in a very small rivier in MN where you couldn’t see more than 1 foot below the surface, and cow dung would regularly flow on top. Us young kids didn’t know any better so we swam and dived in it, and nobody got ill from it that I know of. And my parents didn’t know what we were doing. Would I let my kids do it now? Probably not.
How long is the incubation time for Typhus?
Mad Hatters diesease breaks out in Guangzhou.
Last summer I canoed on the Genesee river. Some water splashed on my legs. The next morning I had a rash on both legs. It lasted for about 2 weeks.
I remember being in Paris watching 3 French people jump into the Seine...one of the guys with us shouted...”hey, that isn’t a leaf you see floating”....we were all going eeewwwwww. I suppose they survived just fine.
Sorry... The Genessee River goes through Rochester NY.
Big deal. I would be a lot more impressed if they had dug up Mao and had him lead the swim to demonstrate his physical fitness.
In related news:
Leaders of the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou diagnosed with mysterious cancerous disorders. Authorities were quick to disassociate the newfound and apparently fatal illness to their recent swim across one of the most polluted rivers in China.
I remember my grandmother telling me that when she grew up in St. Louis in the 1910s that she and her friends would walk down to the Mississippi right where the Gateway Arch is now (in those days, it was blocks and blocks of warehouses and industry — and it was profoundly polluted, the sewers emptying into the river). One day, her friend was wading in it, and shortly after coming out, was covered in dreadful sores and boils. They never went wading in it again.
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