Water and some big questions.
Americans take the quality of our drinking water for granted. I can tell you that water from public water systems in this country is generally very safe, both as an environmental economist and as someone who spent last year on a fellowship, working at the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water. One branch of that office alone just pushed through a regulation that decreases our level of risk from dis-infection by products. This was not an easy task, especially with a presidential administration that, shall we say, cannot be described as "pro-environment". Trust me.
Is it 100% safe? No, but pretty darn close, and we as a nation could never afford to have 100% safe drinking water. OK, that's the economist in me coming at you, but it's true...We would have to give up too much of other things that we also value and generally consider "good" things for our people (e.g., public education, police protection, public transportation, public radio, air quality, etc.) to achieve 100% safe water. OK, so that's the professor in me coming out. Lecture over.
Anyway, today, I read the following article online about the quality of China's water, and it hit me again how much we (and by "we", I also mean "I") take for granted. I've thought a lot about the level of pollution in China, both as a professional, and now, on a personal level. What will it mean for our daughter? Will she have acute or chronic health problems as a result of the short period of time she lived in China before leaving her country to come into our family? Will we see adverse health effects, and always wonder why they are there, suspecting that the level of environmental quality she experienced may be a cause, but never knowing for certain? What will it mean for me to spend two weeks in China as an asthmatic with severe allergies? How will I hold up on the trip? Believe me, Tim and I have thought about this one a lot.
And what can be done about it? After all the development, industrialization,and pollution that the US has seen, can we simply tell the Chinese "Ok, we know better now"? In other words, is it fair for the US to suggest stringent environmental regulation to China, a developing country with a great deal of poverty, when many Americans have experienced a level of economic well-being that most Chinese have not?
Yes, Bush backed out of the Kyoto Protocol. But China, where both coal demand and production is huge, was not going to sign it in any case, and many argued that the Protocol would not be meaningful unless China agreed to it. Can we say China is wrong? And what will happen as Chinese economic well-being grows, and the Chinese become the personal transportation (i.e, automobile) lovers that most Americans are?
One thing I often talk about with my students is how environmental protection is both a necessity and a luxury. It seems like a luxury to a country that struggles to feed, to educate and to care for the health of its citizens. Yet, it's a necessity because if China pollutes today for economic gain, and fails to address its environmental problems, it will create additional and more serious demands on the China of tomorrow.
Unfortunately, like most academics, I have no hard and fast answers...Just lots of questions. And unlike many academics, I'll admit that.
*******************************************************
300 Million Chinese Drink Unsafe Water By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writer
Thu Dec 29, 5:16 AM ET
About 300 million people living in China's vast countryside drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants, the government said Thursday in its latest acknowledgment of mounting risks from widespread pollution.
The most common threat to water, after drought, is chemical pollutants and other harmful substances that contaminate drinking supplies for 190 million people, state media quoted E Jingping, a vice minister for water resources, as saying.
The report follows recent chemical spills in the northeast and south of the country that temporarily spoiled water supplies for millions of people and highlighted the severity of the pollution crisis.
The problems are not limited to the countryside. About 90 percent of China's cities have polluted ground water, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a recent nationwide survey.
In Shanghai, the country's biggest and wealthiest city, fetid, stinky canals bubble with pollution. The city's tap water, drawn partly from the heavily polluted Yangtze River, is yellowish and smelly, despite efforts to clean up local waterways.
Some 136 Chinese cities report severe water shortages, adding to the problem, Xinhua said.
"The top priority of our drought relief work is to ensure safe drinking water and safeguard people's health," Xinhua quoted E as telling a conference this week in the western city of Chengdu.
Heavily polluting paper and chemical plants have long been cited as key sources of degradation of most of China's waterways. In some areas, the problems have prompted riots by local residents outraged by chronic health problems and the destruction of their fields and fish farms.
Millions of other Chinese face risks from naturally occurring contaminants, such as excess fluorine, which affects water supplies for 63 million people, and arsenic, which taints water supplies for 2 million. Another 38 million have only brackish water to drink, the report said.
Earlier this week, authorities reported that toxins in the Bei River, in southern China's Guangdong province, had nearly returned to safe levels after a Dec. 15 spill of more than 1,000 tons of cadmium-laced water from a smelter in the city of Shaoguan.
Cities along the Bei temporarily stopped drawing water from the river and dams were closed to keep the spill away from the provincial capital, Guangzhou.
Residents in Russia's Far East have been warned against eating fish after a 110-mile-long slick from a chemical spill in northeastern China crossed the border earlier this week. That spill, from a Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion in the city of Jilin, forced Chinese cities along the Songhua River to shut off water for days.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Is it 100% safe? No, but pretty darn close, and we as a nation could never afford to have 100% safe drinking water. OK, that's the economist in me coming at you, but it's true...We would have to give up too much of other things that we also value and generally consider "good" things for our people (e.g., public education, police protection, public transportation, public radio, air quality, etc.) to achieve 100% safe water. OK, so that's the professor in me coming out. Lecture over.
Anyway, today, I read the following article online about the quality of China's water, and it hit me again how much we (and by "we", I also mean "I") take for granted. I've thought a lot about the level of pollution in China, both as a professional, and now, on a personal level. What will it mean for our daughter? Will she have acute or chronic health problems as a result of the short period of time she lived in China before leaving her country to come into our family? Will we see adverse health effects, and always wonder why they are there, suspecting that the level of environmental quality she experienced may be a cause, but never knowing for certain? What will it mean for me to spend two weeks in China as an asthmatic with severe allergies? How will I hold up on the trip? Believe me, Tim and I have thought about this one a lot.
And what can be done about it? After all the development, industrialization,and pollution that the US has seen, can we simply tell the Chinese "Ok, we know better now"? In other words, is it fair for the US to suggest stringent environmental regulation to China, a developing country with a great deal of poverty, when many Americans have experienced a level of economic well-being that most Chinese have not?
Yes, Bush backed out of the Kyoto Protocol. But China, where both coal demand and production is huge, was not going to sign it in any case, and many argued that the Protocol would not be meaningful unless China agreed to it. Can we say China is wrong? And what will happen as Chinese economic well-being grows, and the Chinese become the personal transportation (i.e, automobile) lovers that most Americans are?
One thing I often talk about with my students is how environmental protection is both a necessity and a luxury. It seems like a luxury to a country that struggles to feed, to educate and to care for the health of its citizens. Yet, it's a necessity because if China pollutes today for economic gain, and fails to address its environmental problems, it will create additional and more serious demands on the China of tomorrow.
Unfortunately, like most academics, I have no hard and fast answers...Just lots of questions. And unlike many academics, I'll admit that.
*******************************************************
300 Million Chinese Drink Unsafe Water By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writer
Thu Dec 29, 5:16 AM ET
About 300 million people living in China's vast countryside drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants, the government said Thursday in its latest acknowledgment of mounting risks from widespread pollution.
The most common threat to water, after drought, is chemical pollutants and other harmful substances that contaminate drinking supplies for 190 million people, state media quoted E Jingping, a vice minister for water resources, as saying.
The report follows recent chemical spills in the northeast and south of the country that temporarily spoiled water supplies for millions of people and highlighted the severity of the pollution crisis.
The problems are not limited to the countryside. About 90 percent of China's cities have polluted ground water, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a recent nationwide survey.
In Shanghai, the country's biggest and wealthiest city, fetid, stinky canals bubble with pollution. The city's tap water, drawn partly from the heavily polluted Yangtze River, is yellowish and smelly, despite efforts to clean up local waterways.
Some 136 Chinese cities report severe water shortages, adding to the problem, Xinhua said.
"The top priority of our drought relief work is to ensure safe drinking water and safeguard people's health," Xinhua quoted E as telling a conference this week in the western city of Chengdu.
Heavily polluting paper and chemical plants have long been cited as key sources of degradation of most of China's waterways. In some areas, the problems have prompted riots by local residents outraged by chronic health problems and the destruction of their fields and fish farms.
Millions of other Chinese face risks from naturally occurring contaminants, such as excess fluorine, which affects water supplies for 63 million people, and arsenic, which taints water supplies for 2 million. Another 38 million have only brackish water to drink, the report said.
Earlier this week, authorities reported that toxins in the Bei River, in southern China's Guangdong province, had nearly returned to safe levels after a Dec. 15 spill of more than 1,000 tons of cadmium-laced water from a smelter in the city of Shaoguan.
Cities along the Bei temporarily stopped drawing water from the river and dams were closed to keep the spill away from the provincial capital, Guangzhou.
Residents in Russia's Far East have been warned against eating fish after a 110-mile-long slick from a chemical spill in northeastern China crossed the border earlier this week. That spill, from a Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion in the city of Jilin, forced Chinese cities along the Songhua River to shut off water for days.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
posted by Redheaded Chick at 4:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home