The Huaihe River Valley Water Environment Surveillance Center
reported last week that water quality further deteriorated in
November in the Huaihe, China's most polluted river. Only 57.8
percent of the water was considered safe for domestic, industrial
or agricultural use.
The figure is about 15.5 percentage points lower than
October's.
The center conducted tests at 45 places along the river as it
passes through Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong and Hubei provinces.
The assessment involves 20 indices, including ammonia and nitrogen
content and the permanganate index, an international method used to
monitor water pollution by oxidizing organic and inorganic
materials.
Water quality is divided into several grades, with grade one
being the least polluted and the lower sublevel of grade five unfit
for any use.
In November, none of the Huaihe's water was rated grade one;
35.5 percent made grade two or three, suitable for drinking and
domestic use; 17.8 percent was considered suitable for use in
industry at grade four; 11.1 percent fell into the upper sublevel
of grade five, which is approved for some agricultural uses;
leaving 35.6 percent unusable.
Experts at the surveillance center attribute the degeneration in
part to the scarcity of rainfall in the Huaihe River basin since
October, with rainfall halving from last year. The dry weather has
kept fresh water from diluting the pollutants that the towns and
cities continue to discharge into the river.
The Huaihe is one of China's major rivers, running through the
eastern part of the country between the Yangtze and Yellow
rivers.
In 1994, China launched a 60 billion yuan (US$7.2 billion)
cleanup campaign on the river, which has been heavily polluted
since the 1980s, but the Huaihe Water, Environment and Resources
Protection Administration reports that it remains a toxic
wasteland.
In late October, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Henan provinces
signed a pledge to the State Environmental Protection
Administration to cut pollution along the river. From next year,
they will regulate the discharge of pollutants; build more sewage
treatment, collection and distribution facilities; and curb
agricultural pollution, they vowed.
The Huaihe supplies water to about 165 million people in Henan,
Hubei, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.
(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2004)
