Monday, September 9, 2013
Local residents of Wuhan, an area along the Fuhe river in China's Hubei province have been working tirelessly to remove massive amounts of dead fish that have blanketed the river and its shoreline. The exact mount of dead fish is unknown at this time but at least 110 tons of the fish were removed from the river by Wednesday, September 5th. The fish deaths are thought to be caused by high levels of ammonia that occupies the river. The official Wuhan municipal government's emergency office has stated that culprit for the high levels of ammonia in the water is a chemical plant in the city of Yingcheng. The plant, Hubei Shuanghuan Science and Technology Stock Co., has been subsequently suspended by the Hubei environmental authorities.
CNN has reported that the Ministry of Environmental Protection admitted that roughly 30% of the rivers it monitors are polluted. The Chinese track record for environmental protection is simply becoming embarrassing. It is widely known that air pollution in some Chinese cities is at an all-time high. How long will these issues affect other countries because of these poor conservation choices? The answer is it already has. The Atlantic Wire reported that research conducted by the National Institute for Environmental Studies concluded that in 2007 and 2008, 29% of particulate pollution found in California had originated in Asia. How long will it be before smog covers cities that would otherwise be considered Eco-friendly? The international community needs to step up and challenge countries such as China in regards to their poor environmental practices.
Sources:http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/05/world/asia/china-river-dead-fish/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://photos.denverpost.com/2013/09/03/photos-over-66000-pounds-of-dead-fish-block-the-fuhe-river-in-china/
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/04/china-air-pollution-2013/63836/
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