Tim Johnson
November 14, 2001

Chemical spills, rampant pollution and poor stewardship of the land have tainted much of the nation’s water supply, and the ground water under 90 percent of China’s cities is contaminated.

(Excerpt)

Zhongshan, China: This industrial city gets its tap water from a river that flows sudsy and dark. City plants treat the water, but many people boil it and drink it with trepidation. As China gallops toward the modern era, access to safe and clean drinking water is beyond the reach of hundreds of millions of rural and urban people. Chemical spills, rampant pollution and poor stewardship of the land have tainted much of the nation’s water supply, and the ground water under 90 percent of China’s cities is contaminated The World Health Organization says 700 million of China’s 1.3 billion people drink water that doesn’t meet WHO’s minimum standards, primarily due to improper treatment of industrial, human and animal waste. Barely 20 percent of China’s sewage is adequately treated. China’s vice minister of water resources, E Jingping, said on Dec. 28 that some 300 million rural residents drink water contaminated by fluorine, arsenic, high levels of salt or other organic or industrial pollutants, and the health effects of China’s water and air pollution are becoming increasingly obvious.