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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Meer in China dat drinkwater verzorgt voor meer dan 2 miljoen mensen gesloten vanwege blauwalg

Almere kan het voortouw nemen om een oplossing te vinden voor dit soort problemen, maar het bestuur van Almere vindt een kwart gram kwik erger. Als dit niet Nederland op z’n smalst is…

Algae smother Chinese lake, millions panic

BEIJING - Fast-spreading, foul-smelling blue-green algae smothered a lake in eastern China, contaminating the drinking water for millions of people and sparking panic-buying of bottled water, state media said Thursday.

The algae bloom in Lake Tai, a famous but long-polluted tourist attraction in Jiangsu province, formed because water levels are at their lowest in 50 years, leading to excess nutrients in the water, Xinhua said.

Officials in Wuxi, a city along the banks of the lake, called an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss measures to deal with the situation and allay public fears, said a posting on the local government’s Web site.

"The government calls for the residents facing the natural disaster to help each other to deal with the difficulties," the notice said, advising people to boil the water before drinking it.

"The situation has lasted three days already. It’s so inconvenient," said Qin Yingxian, 53, a video store owner in Wuxi. "The smell of our tap water is just so awful. If you use the water to shower, the smell will stay on your body."

Algae blooms, which scientists say are actually plantlike bacteria, happen in fresh water the world over. Some types can produce dangerous toxins. Causes include chemical run-off and excess nutrients in the water.

The algae bloom adds to the notorious industrial pollution in Lake Tai, famed for centuries for its beauty. The fast-developing region lies 80 miles west of Shanghai.

$6.50 for 2 gallons (9 liter) of water

Residents swarmed stores in Wuxi, a city of 5 million, to buy bottled water Wednesday and prices skyrocketed from $1 to $6.50 for a two-gallon bottle, Xinhua said. "Now we depend on bottled water for all our daily uses," Qin said.

"People form long queues in the supermarkets for bottled water. Nobody expected something like this to happen. We aren’t prepared." State television showed a yellowish trickle coming from taps and a restaurant worker said customers refused to eat there until they were assured that the water used was safe.

Residents rush to buy bottled water in Wuxi, eastern China, on Thursday.