Freshwater today remains the depleting fifth element of life and efforts need to be made world wide to conserve it. China’s lifeline river the Yangtze is much polluted and Mekong is prey to over-fishing. Further, a quarter of the length of the China’s seven main river systems are so polluted that even touching the water is harmful to skin. Now finally, its environmental watchdog has had a wake up call though it might already be too late.
Coal heaps on the banks of the yangtze river, being loaded into freight ships, Hubei Province, China
As per the agency’s vice minister Pan Yue no new projects will be approved by the State Environmental Protection Agency in 13 locations along the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers. However, it is believed that corruption will hamper their efforts.
A total of 32 heavily polluting factories and six wastewater plants were ordered to clean up in three months so local development could resume. However, environmental inspectors have been stopped at factory gates, and some plants reopen even though the agency shut them down.
SEPA has come into action as pollution allegedly from chemical plants forced the shut off of tap water to 200,000 people in Jiangsu province’s Shuyang, the latest in a torrent of toxic emissions that have poisoned China’s water, soil and air.
Human civilization was born on a riverbank yet today many threats loom over the world’s river basins. Humans have disturbed the natural flow of the river waters by damming them, making canals for irrigation, dumping pollutants. They have done all to destroy the rich biodiversity of the worlds Freshwater ecosystems.
Freshwater is the single most precious element for life on earth. It is essential for satisfying basic human needs, health, food production, energy and maintenance of regional and global ecosystems. Water is extremely valuable for us, but are we making any efforts at the individual level to conserve it?
Source: ENN