Pollution in the Pearl River

Bibliography:
• Background information about pollution in the Pearl River
• Condition of the Pearl River
• Result of the pollution in Pearl River
• Source of pollution in the Pearl River
• Government’s effort on reducing the pollution
• Problems on the way of dealing with pollution in the Pearl River


Along with development, it’s always pollution. Among China’s fastest developing cities, almost all of them are located along the cost or river. Yet, “it is estimated that more than 80% of China’s coastal water and about 70% of its rivers and lakes are polluted with industrial waste, raw sewage and agricultural run-off.”(Barak, 2009) The Pearl River delta is a typical example of such a law. Being known as “the world’s factory floor”, the Pearl River delta creates one of China’s most prosperous provinces- Guangdong (Cheng, 2009). Yet, as the mother river of this export-reliant province, the Pearl River suffers a lot from the economic growth.

According to a research conducted by Guangdong oceanic and fishery administration, “Guangdong discharged 2.35 billion tons of industrial waste-water into the sea last year, of which only about 84 percent met pollution-control standards”. And pollutions in the Pearl River include “materials such as inorganic nitrogen, phosphate and petroleum, lead, copper, cadmium, mercury and arsenic”. (Qiu, 2007) A multivariate statistical study of heavy metal enrichment in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary proves that, a large amount of metals like Cu, Pb and Zn are existed in the surface sediments of the Pearl River Estuary, “especially in the western shallow region”. The result also shows that these metals are anthropogenic inputs from industrial development and urbanization in the last few decades. (Liu, Lia, Shen, Wang, Wai, & Lia, 2001)

Because of these pollutions, species of fish in Pearl River, the supplement of water resource in areas around Pearl River, and even the South China Sea are threatened. Director of the Guangdong oceanic and fishery administration, Li Zhujiang, points out that “the number of fish species has decreased from about 200 in the 1970s to the current 50”. (Qiu, 2007) The decrease number of fish species reflects not only the poor underwater condition of the Pearl River, but also the trend of limited underwater area. Qiu Quanlin (2007) claims that “since 2003, Guangdong has approved 63 such projects in search of more land for industrial expansion. So far the province has reclaimed nearly 6,700 hectares from the sea.” Besides the damage of underwater environment, toxic materials spread to the nearby environment and threaten people’s health with the flow of polluted water. Research shows that heavy metals from the polluted water of Pearl River are distributed in the crop, paddy and natural soils of the Pearl River Delta. (Wong, Li, Zhang, Qi, & Min, 2001) Moreover, fish, shrimp, crab and conches caught from the Pearl River are also found to contain metals like Cadmium and lead. These kinds of metals will finally go into human’s body with their food, cause cancer and damage the haemopoietic system and the central nervous system. (Liang, 2005) Regardless of all these possible ways that bring the pollution back to human being, according to Greenpeace, the Pearl River supplies drinking water to about 47 million people. Thus, the water itself is a source of pollution to people’s health through diet. Lastly, as the Pearl River ends its trip by entering the South China Sea, all the pollution also goes into the ocean. And the toxic and chemical materials will eventually revenge to human being through seafood, climate change, and other kinds of influences to human life.

Now that we all know the poor condition of the Pearl River and how the pollution is going to influence our life. But where does the pollution come from? Last year, Greenpeace released an investigation on the water pollution of the Pearl River Delta in October named “Poisoning the Pearl”. According to the report, water samples as well as sediment samples from accessible discharging points of five manufacturing facilities in the Pearl River Delta, were found have “high concentrations of a number of heavy metals that are toxic or potentially toxic”. These manufacturing facilities mainly include: printed circuit board manufacturing, printing, and textile manufacturing. For three of them, the concentrations of chemicals “exceeded the limits set by Guangdong provincial effluent standards”. Besides metals, the PH value and the organic chemicals also reflects that the industrial activity is the still a major source of the pollution in the Pearl River. Reut Barak (2009) points out that “pollution in the Pearl River will grow with further industrial transfer and investment, which is directed towards the poorer, upstream provinces of the Pearl River (Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan and Jiangxi)”. Thus, pollution in the Pearl River needs an urgent concern, or it might become more serious.

To clean up the pollution, or to stop it from becoming even worse, Greenpeace suggests that both manufacturing industries and government ought to make effort on it. On one hand, manufacturers can reduce the use of toxic chemicals by redesigning their production processes and products. On the other, both national and local government of China related to this issue should “commit to the urgent elimination of discharges of hazardous chemicals”. (“Poisoning the Pearl”)

Living in Guangzhou for more than twenty years, I received a lot of information from various local media about how our government is going to cure our mother river, and how well the achievement is. Records in newspapers shows that the mayor of Guangzhou had begin concerning the water quality of Pearl River as early as 1987. Yet, until year 2008, Zhuang Guangning, the mayor of Guangzhou began leading thousands of Guangzhou citizens swimming across the Pearl River once a year; in order show his determination of cleaning up the mother river. (Document from Guangzhou Government) Even though media worked hard enough to promote our government’s “achievements” every year, environmental organizations and individuals don’t seem to be satisfied with the condition of Pearl River yet. Greenpeace keep on publishing data collected from the polluted river; a lot of facts show that citizens living in some areas near Pearl River are still suffering from the smell and poor living environment because of the pollution of the Pearl River.

Greenpeace points out that after working on curing the Pearl River for so many years, the situation still remains unchanged since the Chinese government didn’t work before the pollution came out.
"While local governments are responsible for abiding by the ambient water quality standards set for their jurisdictions, industries are responsible for abiding by technology-based effluent standards and TEC caps allocated by the government. The Water Pollution Control Law stipulates that companies must design and install water-pollution control equipment simultaneously with the construction of their main production facilities. They must also ensure that their pollution-control equipment runs simultaneously with their production processes, and that it meets relevant effluent standards (the so-called “Three Synchronisations Requirement,”)" (“Poisoning the Pearl”/ similar information can also be found out in the “Document from Guangzhou Government”)
This leaves manufacturers the space to be responsible for the pollution after they made it. Factories can easily meet with the government’s requirement by building up filters or other equipments to reduce the pollution go directly into the river. However, toxics or waste chemical and heavy metals being filtered finally need to find out the way they can go to. Hence, some manufacturers will dump those wastes near river. And those toxics will eventually poison the Pearl.

Besides, the structure of Chinese government also brings difficulties to the execution of environmental protection projects. Reut Barak (2009) comments about China that, “central government evaluates and promotes local government officials according to their ability to show a high level of economic growth in the area under their jurisdiction”. As a result, local governments are seldom willing to invest in environmental protection projects, sice they would rather to invest in the industrialization instead.

Generally speaking, the ways government uses to control pollution to river and the structure of Chinese national and local governments, add difficulties to the protection of the Pearl River. Local media, working as a tool of the government, keep telling us good news about the achievement on the way to cure Pearl River. Yet, we still need to be clear about that, the condition of the Pearl River is still in danger, more efforts still need to be made on it.




Reference:
Barak, R. (2009). “Fighting Pollution on the Pearl River”. China Dialogue. Retrieved from http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3266-Fighting-pollution-on-the-Pearl-River-

Cheng, J. (2009). “Greenpeace Report on Pearl River Pollution Cites Hong Kong-Listed Companies”. China Realtime Report. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/10/28/greenpeace-report-on-pearl-river-pollution-cites-hong-kong-listed-companies/tab/article/

Document from Guangzhou Government. (2003) China Guangzhou Government. Retrieved from http://www.gz.gov.cn/vfs/content/content2.jsp?contentId=146588&catId=4103

Liang, Q. (2005). “Study links Pearl River pollution to cancer”. China Daily. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-12/01/content_499322.htm

Liu, W.X. Li, X.D. Shen, Z.G. Wang, D.C. Wai, O.W.H. &Li, Y.S. (2001). “Multivariate statistical study of heavy metal enrichment in sediments of the Pearl River Estuary”. Environmental Pollution, 121(2003), 377–388.

“Poisoning the Pearl”. (2009). Greenpeace. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/china/en/press/reports/pearl-river-delta-2009.pdf

Qiu, Q. (2007). “Pearl River Waste Harming the Sea”. China Daily. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-07/25/content_5442610.htm

Wong, S.C. Li, X.D. Zhang, G. Qi, S.H. & Min, Y.S. (2001). “Heavy metals in agricultural soils of the Pearl River Delta, South China”. Environmental Pollution, 119(2002), 33–44.