Environment

China's Yellow River pollution rises

by Amy Judd | November 25, 2008 at 08:38 am

2602 views | 21 Recommendations | 9 comments

The famous Yellow River in China, which is the main water supply for millions of people in northern China, has found to have been heavily polluted by industrial waste and is deemed unsafe for anyone to use.

The Yellow River is the second longest in China and discharge from factories has increased in recent years and water levels have dropped due to industrial and residential growth.

The Yellow River Conservancy Committee said 33.8 percent of the river's water sampled registered worse than level 5, meaning it's unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Program.

A 2007 survey covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, which flows from western Qinghai province across China into the Bohai sea, and its tributaries, a notice posted on the committee's Web site Saturday said.

Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — water considered safe for household use.

Industry and manufacturing made up 70 percent of the discharge into the river, the notice said, with 23 percent coming from households and 6.4 percent from other sources. The notice did not identify specific pollutants.

The results showed pollution has gotten slightly worse since 2006, when 31 percent of the water in the river was poorer than a level 5, according to an earlier survey.

Most of the industries in that region have not been monitored for pollutants, and they are in a way protected as they provide many jobs for workers. The river is treated as a dumping site and a sewage channel

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Uwe Paschen

at 08:43 on November 25th, 2008

That would mean that the Dolphins or River Dolphin are back in danger or never got out of it and may be extinct after all, as once reported here. I believe you reported this as well Amy.

Barbara McPherson

at 11:17 on November 25th, 2008

The water crisis in the PRC is massive. There is a scheme to divert some of the more southerly water to the north. What that will do to the country's water supply is anybody's guess.

angewei

at 17:51 on November 25th, 2008

Yellow River at Inner Mongolia

angewei has contributed a photo to this story.

A. Tran

at 20:06 on November 25th, 2008

This means one-third of the Yellow River is polluted. Sadly, there are other great rivers that are also heavily polluted, the Yangtze, the Mekong Delta, Irrawaddy and Salween, the Ganges, to name a few.

Thanks Amy for the report.

aprilpieces

at 02:50 on November 26th, 2008

Actually we I arrive at the yellow river spot in city of Jinan, it is not that shocking to me as I imagined. I was born in a town near Yangzi River, comparing with the pollutions on Yangzi River, Yellow River seems much more tranquil and peaceful. I didn't see dirty discharged rubbish floating on it, however, it is undeniable that the water contains much sands and mud. There is one thing comforting: on the other side of the river (not shown in this picture), the government has constructed a park, planting trees as a wall to protect both water loss and soil erosion. And I'm so happy to see there are some fishermen by the river- which can prove that there do have fishes in the water :)

aprilpieces has contributed a photo to this story.

fretur

at 01:32 on November 27th, 2008

The situatiion in Lanzhou was terrible this summer, when we arrived we believed there should be fog! There was not fog, but smog!! And the yellow river was not more yellow but brown!!

fretur has contributed a photo to this story.