Rubbish dumped on edge of Lake Tai puts drinking water of millions at risk
About 12,000 tonnes of rubbish dumped on the edge of Lake Tai continues to pose a contamination risk to drinking water in Suzhou, but local authorities and residents still can’t agree on exactly what the garbage contains, mainland media report.
In one instance, Suzhou police discovered on July 1 that eight cargo boats had shipped about 4,000 tonnes of rubbish from Shanghai and dumped it on a small island in Jinting township.
The local government said it had taken “emergency measures” to reduce pollution as the water level in Lake Tai, which is on the border of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, nears a historic high as a result of torrential rains.
Local officials opened up sluice gates to lower the water level, ahead of rain forecast for Monday night and Tuesday.
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Shanghai authorities say the rubbish is construction waste, but local media claim it also contains household refuse.
A boat captain earlier told state news agency Xinhua he received 2,000 yuan (HK$2,320) for each shipment, more than twice what he usually earned. Middlemen who arrange the shipping could reportedly earn 30 yuan for each tonne.
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The dump site is only about 2km from one source of drinking water for Jinting. If the rubbish contaminated the water, the safety of drinking supplies in Suzhou could also be at stake, the local publicity office warned early this month. The city is home to more than 10 million people.
Xinhua Daily said plastic sheets covered the mound and a trench had been dug to isolate it.
But villagers living nearby said the groundwater in their backyards smelled foul, according to the report.
Shanghai authorities told Xinhua last week the garbage shipped to Suzhou was only bricks and sand. But Xinhua Daily reported household refuse was buried under a layer of construction waste.
“When I drove an excavator to remove the trash, the household refuse was buried about 20-30 cm under the surface layer of construction waste and dust,” Xinhua Daily quoted a clean-up worker as saying.
The dump site is adjacent to a drug rehabilitation centre, which owns the small dock from where the trash was unloaded. But the centre said it had leased the dock to the local government.
