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发帖数: 351 | 1 http://www.usnews.com/news/science/articles/2016-04-11/china-report-sounds-alarm-on-groundwater-pollution
BEIJING (AP) — More than 80 percent of China's underground water drawn from
relatively shallow wells used by farms, factories and mostly rural
households is unsafe for drinking because of pollution, a government report
says.
The Water Resources Ministry study posted to its website Tuesday analyzed
samples drawn in January from 2,103 wells used for monitoring in the country
's major eastern flatland watersheds.
The ministry said that of those samples, 32.9 percent were classed as
suitable only for industrial and agricultural use, while 47.3 percent were
unfit for human consumption of any type. None were considered pristine,
although water in wells in the Beijing area was rated better overall than
elsewhere in the northeast.
Following the report's release on Monday, officials sought to reassure the
public that most household water used by urban Chinese households is safe
because it comes from reservoirs, deep aquifers or rivers that are treated
to ensure safety.
"The quality of drinking water is good overall," Chen Mingzhong, director of
the ministry's Department of Water Resources, told reporters at a news
conference.
Most public attention in recent years has focused on heavy air pollution in
Chinese cities, although water and soil contamination are also regarded as
serious by environmentalists.
Water shortages are also expected to pose an increasing challenge to
agriculture, with much of the arid North China Plain reliant on aquifers
whose levels are falling fast. China's major lakes are also heavily polluted
, largely due to fertilizer run-off and the dumping of untreated factory
waste.
Environmental group Greenpeace called the ministry's report "another stark
warning of the extent of groundwater pollution in China."
In a statement, Greenpeace's east Asia toxics campaign manager Ada Kong
applauded the ministry's recognition of the problem and said taking serious
action to tackle the problem was the next step.
"Water pollution in China is every bit as serious an issue as air pollution,
" Kong said.
Part of the problem is that the Water Resources Ministry and Ministry of
Environmental Protection have yet to clarify their roles and
responsibilities in carrying out a National Groundwater Pollution Prevention
Plan issued in 2011 and promised 34 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) in funding,
Kong said.
The authorities should also regularly test the deep groundwater that urban
areas rely on, Greenpeace said.
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