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A resident of Minzhen village in Hebei province, northern China inspects the “milky” water emerging from an irrigation well which environmental experts have declared is harmless. Photo: Weibo

Chinese villagers assured their ‘milky’ water is fine but doubts remain

  • Experts report high levels of calcium carbonate and suggest regular cleaning of affected well
  • Suspicion continues that neighbouring glass factory may be to blame

Environmental authorities have assured residents of a village in northern China that pollution is not to blame for cloudy, discoloured water which has been emerging from an irrigation well for the local wheat crop since last year.

But concerns remain among the 2,600 residents of Minzhen village, Hebei province, that the “milky” water may be linked to a neighbouring industrial complex in Xingtang county.

A working group, made up of 22 representatives from local government and environmental monitoring agencies, was established on March 30, in response to media coverage, according to the Shijiazhuang Ecology and Environment Bureau.

The group’s preliminary findings on March 31 showed the water passed the underground water quality standards for IV grade water, which is classified as suitable for industrial and agricultural use, and fit for human consumption after processing.

The working group’s report – which was published, and then removed, by online publication China News – found high levels of calcium carbonate in the water, commonly known as hard water.

According to the report, carbon dioxide in the water is concentrated around the well and released as small bubbles when it is pumped, creating the discolouration, and precipitating into white calcium salt.

One of the recommendations from the working group was for regular cleaning and water quality testing of the well.

“This is not a pollutant,” Wang Yanjie, an official from Xingtang county, told online news portal Beijing News in an April 1 video report.

Residents say the cloudy water first appeared up to three years ago, forcing people in the north of the village to stop pumping underground wells for potable water, according to a March 31 report on state broadcaster CCTV. They have been using water from a drinking well, about 200 metres deep (656 feet), in the centre of Minzhen village, ever since.

Villagers complained to Xingtang county government in 2018 that Minzhen’s underground water had been severely polluted. The case was handed to a Hebei environmental monitoring group, which did not find any pollution, according to a government document obtained by the publication Business Daily.

The latest findings from the working group did not convince everyone. One villager, surnamed Tang, was interviewed by Beijing News, in a video which showed a factory tower releasing white steam in the background of the farm where the discoloured water was found.

“I think this is related to the glass plant over there. Exactly what went wrong, no one is sure,” Tang said.

Commenters on China’s social media site Weibo were also sceptical about the findings.

“Everybody knows what has really happened here. What's important is where the wheat is going to end up, and who will eat it,” a user from Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital, wrote.

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