China Water Pollution Incident

This essay discusses the Hejiang Water Pollution Incident in China, which affected the water resources of the country and the lives of people. It highlights the causes and effects of water pollution due to industrialization, urbanization, and low sewage treatment infrastructure. The essay also talks about the government initiatives taken to control water pollution and the need for a healthy and safe environment for the future of the country. The document type is an essay and the type of assignment is an essay writing. The subject is environmental science and the college/university is not mentioned.

CHINA WATER POLLUTION INCIDENT
NAME-
UID-
ESSAY WRITING
TOPIC- HEJIANG WATER POLLUTION INCIDENT
China has been facing the problem of water pollution since a decade and it has been
increasing more and more with the following years. There have been various cases of
polluted and contaminated rivers in the cities of china (权权, 2019). This shows the long stayed
problem of contamination in the waters of china growing day by day in the largely populated
country. The water resources are not only facing a shortage of water but with the population
increasing day by day, there have been demands for higher water quantity as well the quality
of the water been used. But, the decreasing quality of ground water has been a reason for
water shortage amongst the people of the country. Contamination in the ground water table
has been a cause for water pollution (Ross, 2014). The main reasons are china’s
industrialization, economic growth and urbanization. This is backed by low sewage treatment
infrastructure.
One such example of contamination occurred in the city of Hejiang, when the water in a
nearby river turned red within one night. This situation affected the water running in the
country and was contaminated by the same (权权, 2019). In 2014, a word was spread all over
the city and it was said that residents of Hejiang, a Chinese city had to run around to buy the
bottled water as the authorities reported that the tap water was highly contaminated and not
safe for drinking purpose. The water that was used for the consumption and daily activities
was said to have contained 20 times more benzene than the agreed quantity, which is a
chemical that leads to cancer in human body (Ross, 2014). The national safety levels have
been set for judging the correct amount of chemicals that are allowed in the consumable
goods.
The people of the city were shocked to see such a dreadful site of river water turning to red
all of a sudden. It was investigated that some food colouring, cloth maker or a paper
manufacturing unit, which are already home for the dumping of waste in the river have used
the river water for an illegal dumping of colouring unit in the river water and it has turned the
water to red. This contamination affected a large number of people as the nearby city is

CHINA WATER POLLUTION INCIDENT
totally dependent on the water flowing in the river. Hejiang lies in the Wenzhou district and it
is an important centre for the commerce and trade of eastern coast of china. The industries
have used the facility of river for dumping their waste for many years but this time, they
stopped the daily activities of work and food for the city people because of their silly
carelessness. People were stopped from fishing which is an important bread earner for the
population (Hoek, 2018).
China has been talked and seen as the developed of nations of today’s world and the growing
industrialization in the country has played a major role in setting it as an example for the
world in terms of modernization and development and growth. But, with the increase in
development in the industrial and economy section, it is very necessary for the country’s
concerned authorities to look upon the basic issues of the country that are increasing the
hazards faced by the people of the country (Beckley-Jackson, 2017).
Industrialization has impacted the country in the worst of its ways. With a major increase in
the population and the living standards of the people has led to depletion of natural resources
as well as an increase in the use of fuels and chemicals in the factories leading to over use of
the fossil fuels and increased water and air pollution. Manufacturing industries often generate
solid, liquid and gaseous waste as their by products and also use harmful chemicals for the
manufacturing of several resources and this is how they lead to a negative impact on the
environment (MHM, 2016).
The reason behind the tragedy of river water turning red because of unethical dumping of
waste by a reputed company shook the minds of people as this is not the first time that this
scenario had happened. Illegal dumping of pollutants in the rivers has been survived in china
since few years (Beckley-Jackson, 2017). It was said that adding of an external pollutant in
the water o china grew terror in the city and devastated the daily usage of water by the people
around.
Talking about the pollutant, artificial colour is a chemical component which does not
accumulate in the plants or animals and as an air borne VOC, it can react with the other
present pollutants in the environment to create ground ozone which can damage the
agricultural crops and substances. Colouring agents might also be carcinogens. It can react
with the chemicals to form smog in the city and can affect the breathing capability of the
population. It leads to the slowing of growth in the living organisms and might also affect a

CHINA WATER POLLUTION INCIDENT
person to die because of cancer causing agents ("Benzene | National Pollutant Inventory",
2019).
The source of the chemicals is from the industries, mainly from the gas and oil exact action
sources. Other industries that might include the use of external polluting agents are as follows
- oil, Chemicals, rubber, petrol and footwear industries (Wang & Yang, 2016). All of the
following industries, use, produce and handle the pollutant in large amounts. In aquatic life, it
can damage the lives of fish and other creatures of the lakes and rivers. It might change the
appearances of the creatures and also make them die because of high consumption (Nash,
2019). It can affect the lives of people by- coming in contact with the lungs because of
smoking or use of fumes, contamination of foods and drinking water, contact with the petrol
and petrol borne substances. Living near the industrial area can also make pollutants to
contact with human life or working in a firm where benzene is used as manufacturing agent.
China being the hub of manufacturing industries and growing economies is said to have an
equal amount of polluted water as the air in its environment and this has led to the various
pollution causing problems in the country (Wang & Yang, 2016). It has been reported that
tonnes of chemical waste is released in the rivers of china by the industries which are used as
consumable water source. The pollutants that are adding contamination in the water of china
are- chromium and benzene and various other waste materials that are left to accumulate in
the river water leading to its contamination. Water pollution in china has been termed as the
worst of all the environmental issues faced by the country. According to the World Bank,
water pollution might become a catastrophic consequence for the future generations to come.
Various other issues faced by the contamination of water in china are-
 Dumping of industrial waste and toxic human waste
 Algal blooms produced by pollution turning river surface to bright green
 Groundwater contamination
 High levels of fluorine, arsenic and sulphates
The government initiatives been taken, as a result of incidents that have happened in the past
years have resulted in administrative control of the situations but not much effect has been
seen even after the placing of restrictions placed. One of the initiatives by the greenpeace’s
detox campaign describes relationship between the suppliers and the multinational
companies. The central government has been working by their intensiveefforts for controlling
and bringing remedies for the pollution of water. Five year plans have been set up by the state

CHINA WATER POLLUTION INCIDENT
council and central governments for detailing the standards of water to be used for
consumption.
After the tragedy of 2014, Hejiang incident, li kieqiang id set aside an amount of us$330
billion for tackling water pollution. There was a declaration of three red lines with a target of
2015, 20 and 30 for the maximization of water use and increasing the efficiency of use of
consumable water. In 2015, state council came up with a water pollution prevention and
control action plan for enforcing strict standards, efforts, monitoring and implementation of
laws. This helped in punishing the heavy polluters, especially the industrialists. Performance
indicators have been set with definite timelines and goals (Beckley-Jackson, 2017).
The following information suggests that Chinese government has been taking the issue of
water contamination and water pollution as a serious issue. This issue might destroy the
future of china in terms of economy and humanity (Yan, 2019). The implementation of
policies and laws, not only need the attention of higher authorities but also the low level
officials to take care of the local polluters and keeping in check of the industrial towns that
are freely discarding their waste material in the rivers and fresh water sources which are used
for consumption by the common public. China, being one of the fastest growing economies,
need to check their environmental conditions too for a balanced growth of economy and the
environment they live in. this will help them achieve a better future for the children as well
the working class. A healthy and safe environment will push people to work towards the
betterment of the nation (Yan, 2019).
References
Beckley-Jackson, L. (2017). “Don’t Drink the Water”: The Camp Lejeune Water Contamination
Incident. Dttp: Documents To The People, 44(4), 4. doi: 10.5860/dttp.v44i4.6223
Benzene | National Pollutant Inventory. (2019). Retrieved from http://npi.gov.au/resource/benzene
MHM, Y. (2016). Sources of Water Pollution and Procedures Necessary for the Prevention of
Pollution (A Review). Journal Of Dairy, Veterinary & Animal Research, 3(1). doi:
10.15406/jdvar.2016.03.00067
Nash. (2019). Causes and Effects of Industrial Water Pollution You Never Noticed. Retrieved from
https://helpsavenature.com/industrial-water-pollution
Ross, A. (2014). Understanding water column hydrocarbon distribution from the Deep Water Horizon
incident. The APPEA Journal, 54(3). doi: 10.1071/aj13148

CHINA WATER POLLUTION INCIDENT
Tang, Y., Miao, X., Zang, H., & Gao, Y. (2018). Information Disclosure on Hazards from Industrial
Water Pollution Incidents: Latent Resistance and Countermeasures in
China. Sustainability, 10(5), 1475. doi: 10.3390/su10051475
Wang, Q., & Yang, Z. (2016). Industrial water pollution, water environment treatment, and health
risks in China. Environmental Pollution, 218, 358-365. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.07.011
Yan, L. (2019). CNPC fined 100m yuan for Hejiang water, air pollution. Retrieved from
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/7803-CNPC-fined-1-m-yuan-for-Hejiang-
water-air-pollution
权权. (2019). Hejiang admits to problems in water supply - China - Chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved from
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-04/16/content_17436566.htm
Hoek, E. (2018). Turning on the taps. Npj Clean Water, 1(1). doi: 10.1038/s41545-018-0007-
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