Pollution in the Yangtze River
Death in the Yantze River This glorious river that is over 6300 kilometres long is in danger of dying.
Since the construction of the Three Gorges Dam which spans the river near Chongqing, a town of over a million people had to be relocated uphill so as not to be covered in water, the water has become extremely polluted, clouded with silt and several species of animals that lived there have gone or are facing extinction.
One species known to have died out is the Chinese River dolphin that was only found here.
The Sturgeon is also at risk and many others are struggling to survive.
The river provides drinking water to the villages, towns and cities along its banks.
It is also the receptacle for all the waste, including human excrement.
Recent pictures show pockets of rubbish, such as plastic drink containers and plastic bags, floating in pools of stagnant water trapped by other debris.
The potential for plague is enormous and one has only to look back a hundred or so years to London and the polluted Thames River that served also as the drinking fountain for the people.
Along its banks one found rotting corpses, all kinds of waste and the stink was awful.
So too is it along parts of the Yangtze.
Because of the largest power station in the world, capacity wise, hundreds of thousands are taking up residence along the river from Shanghai upwards.
This is seeing the group of factories and industrial plants that pour their effluent, including heavy metals, directly into it.
There is no will on the part of the authorities to clean it up or to fine companies that pollute.
This once mighty waterway is virtually destroyed and authorities say it will be dead within five years.
What happens there is affecting the rest of the world as well.
The polluted water is washed out to sea and already there are enormous floating islands of plastic in the Pacific.
It appears that rivers in Asia may be largely to blame for it.
The people who live there are already suffering disease, birth defects, cancers and other things that can be attributed to the water they drink and their lifestyles.
Surely with the economy rising to the height it is in China the government can do something to stop this before it goes any further.
But there are now several dams planned for the water way and who knows what damage they will do.
Since the construction of the Three Gorges Dam which spans the river near Chongqing, a town of over a million people had to be relocated uphill so as not to be covered in water, the water has become extremely polluted, clouded with silt and several species of animals that lived there have gone or are facing extinction.
One species known to have died out is the Chinese River dolphin that was only found here.
The Sturgeon is also at risk and many others are struggling to survive.
The river provides drinking water to the villages, towns and cities along its banks.
It is also the receptacle for all the waste, including human excrement.
Recent pictures show pockets of rubbish, such as plastic drink containers and plastic bags, floating in pools of stagnant water trapped by other debris.
The potential for plague is enormous and one has only to look back a hundred or so years to London and the polluted Thames River that served also as the drinking fountain for the people.
Along its banks one found rotting corpses, all kinds of waste and the stink was awful.
So too is it along parts of the Yangtze.
Because of the largest power station in the world, capacity wise, hundreds of thousands are taking up residence along the river from Shanghai upwards.
This is seeing the group of factories and industrial plants that pour their effluent, including heavy metals, directly into it.
There is no will on the part of the authorities to clean it up or to fine companies that pollute.
This once mighty waterway is virtually destroyed and authorities say it will be dead within five years.
What happens there is affecting the rest of the world as well.
The polluted water is washed out to sea and already there are enormous floating islands of plastic in the Pacific.
It appears that rivers in Asia may be largely to blame for it.
The people who live there are already suffering disease, birth defects, cancers and other things that can be attributed to the water they drink and their lifestyles.
Surely with the economy rising to the height it is in China the government can do something to stop this before it goes any further.
But there are now several dams planned for the water way and who knows what damage they will do.
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