水道水汚染

A little while back, we reported on the air pollution problem over in China. This week, however, a different form of pollution has come to light. On first sight, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this for a prop from a mutant zombie movie. However what can be seen in the picture above is in fact the tap water of a residential area in Jinan, China. In total, over 500 inhabitants of the area have fallen victim to this most recent ‘pink water’ phenomenon.

Obviously drinking the stuff is out of the question and many residents have been forced, as a temporary measure, to secure rations of bottled water. Just how contaminated this water is remains unclear, but even more intriguing is what caused the phenomenon in the first place. And how harmful could it actually be? Could simply giving the stuff a good, long sniff be hazardous to people’s health?

水道水汚染3

Looking closely at the above pictures, one gets the impression that the liquid pouring out of the kitchen tap is highly poisonous. Not needing to go so far as to analyse the substance to know it’s a clear health hazard, the residents witnessing the problem first-hand are left with no choice but to buy bottled water and wonder what the cause of it could be.

There have been reports in recent weeks of dead pigs being dumped and washed down the Haunpu river in Shanghai, with many of the animals confirmed as being diseased. However any direct correlation between this and the pink water phenomenon in Jinan has been denied. Nevertheless, with frequent instances of air and environmental pollution in some form or another, China’s inner-city residents are beginning to distrust their government more each day.

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Even in Japan, incidents of discoloration in the drinking water are occurring on a daily basis somewhere across the country. However, in this instance, discoloration is normally related to rusty pipes and has no connection to the quality of the water supply itself.

Admittedly, one can foresee similar problems arising again in the future if measures to halt pollution aren’t put in place by the Chinese government.

Thoughts from readers around the world regarding China’s pink water issue include:

  • It’s got to be potassium permanganate.
  • Pollution from the sewer system.
  • Holy water.
  • I’m not sure what it is but just thinking about it terrifies me.
  • I like the color!
  • Boiling it would surely make it drinkable. Not a problem.
  • It shivers me to the bones to think what type of raw chemicals have seeped out this time.
  • Pig corpses.

We’ll have more on this story as it breaks.

Source: Byoukan Sunday (Japanese)