Watershed crisis: China’s cities tap into sea of polluted water
Supplies to a slew of big urban centres afflicted by contamination from decades of poor agricultural practices and runaway land development
Roughly three-quarters of the water sources tapped by China’s 30 biggest cities have major pollution, affecting tens of millions of people, according to an international environmental watchdog.
In its “China Urban Water Blueprint” released on Monday, The Nature Conservancy examined the water quality of 135 watersheds in the cities, including Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan.
Overall, 73 per cent of the catchments had medium to high levels of pollution.
Land development in catchment areas had triggered sediment and nutrient contamination of water supplies for more than 80 million people, the report said. This kind of pollution was particularly high in watersheds in Chengdu, Harbin, Kunming, Ningbo, Qingdao and Xuzhou.
Hong Kong’s water catchments also had high levels of sediment pollution but medium levels of nutrient pollution; while Beijing had low levels of both types of contaminant, the report said.
80 per cent of groundwater in China’s major river basins is unsafe for humans, study reveals
China, which has almost one-fifth of the world’s population but only 7 per cent of the planet’s fresh water, has long been plagued by water pollution.