Environmental Problems in China
Environmental Problems in China
In May 2008, there was an article, published by National Geographic Magazine, which dealt in great depths with the environmental problems China has been facing, especially the ones concerning the country’s water supplies. The following is a summary of the main points of the article.
The focal point of the article was the Yellow River, also known as the Mother River of China. The river is the most important source of water for the country, and supplies the needs of people for both every day and agricultural usage. However, development and modernization are both top priorities for the country, and the numerous factories, farms and cities being built are dangerously close to exhausting the water supplies, so much that the size of the river is reduced to a mere trickle by the time it reaches the sea at some points. In fact, there was a time in the 1990s when the river could not even reach the sea, but fortunately this is no longer the case.
To make matters worse, the remainder of the river is being steadily poisoned. Chemical and pharmaceutical factories in Shizuishan (which is one of the most polluted cities in the world), for example, dump their toxic waste in the river. Because of these poisonous toxins in the water, it is now completely uninhabitable by all the fish and creatures that used to call it home before the pollution started. Needless to say, the water is unfit for consumption in this state, and is too toxic to use even for irrigation. Since the river has been exposed to such poisonous toxins, there has been a noticable spike in cases of cancer, birth defects and waterborne diseases as well.
Another problem concerning the Yellow River is the large amount of ill-concieved dams, which can upset the river’s natural flow. There was one particularly disastrous event in its history, namely the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam. Mao Zedung, Chinese communist leader, used to be obsessed with taming the Yellow River, because
In May 2008, there was an article, published by National Geographic Magazine, which dealt in great depths with the environmental problems China has been facing, especially the ones concerning the country’s water supplies. The following is a summary of the main points of the article.
The focal point of the article was the Yellow River, also known as the Mother River of China. The river is the most important source of water for the country, and supplies the needs of people for both every day and agricultural usage. However, development and modernization are both top priorities for the country, and the numerous factories, farms and cities being built are dangerously close to exhausting the water supplies, so much that the size of the river is reduced to a mere trickle by the time it reaches the sea at some points. In fact, there was a time in the 1990s when the river could not even reach the sea, but fortunately this is no longer the case.
To make matters worse, the remainder of the river is being steadily poisoned. Chemical and pharmaceutical factories in Shizuishan (which is one of the most polluted cities in the world), for example, dump their toxic waste in the river. Because of these poisonous toxins in the water, it is now completely uninhabitable by all the fish and creatures that used to call it home before the pollution started. Needless to say, the water is unfit for consumption in this state, and is too toxic to use even for irrigation. Since the river has been exposed to such poisonous toxins, there has been a noticable spike in cases of cancer, birth defects and waterborne diseases as well.
Another problem concerning the Yellow River is the large amount of ill-concieved dams, which can upset the river’s natural flow. There was one particularly disastrous event in its history, namely the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam. Mao Zedung, Chinese communist leader, used to be obsessed with taming the Yellow River, because