The quality of drinking water sources in the Pearl River Basin is worrying

At present, the quality of drinking water sources in the Pearl River Basin is very worrying. The water quality of some rivers responsible for the main water supply function shows a downward trend, and the standard rate of urban drinking water sources is low. This is the information disclosed by relevant experts at the "2005 meeting on water resources protection in the Pearl River Basin" held in Shenzhen on the 9th.

How dirty is the Pearl River water? According to relevant data, the total discharge of waste water and sewage in the Pearl River in 2004 was 18.27 billion tons, of which 13.95 billion tons were discharged into the river, while the discharge of waste water and sewage in the Pearl River Delta accounted for 52% of the total - what a frightening surprise. So, who soiled our drinking water? The monitoring shows that the heavy metals, inorganic nitrogen and petroleum in the water body of nearly 6000 square kilometers of the Pearl River Estuary almost exceed the standard. The comprehensive pollution index of water quality in most of the Lingdingyang sea area has reached the heavy pollution level. The inorganic nitrogen in the nearshore sea area exceeds the four types of seawater quality standards, and the proportion of operating salt is seriously unbalanced... Obviously, this is mainly caused by enterprise pollution.

China is a country with serious water shortage, but most of its valuable and limited water resources are under serious pollution threat. Some experts say that this problem has become one of the major challenges facing China's comprehensive construction of a well-off society in the next two decades. The pollution of the Pearl River water area can be said to be a good example. The situation is so severe that if we don't take drastic measures to deal with the problem of water pollution, we may not have clean water to drink tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. This is by no means alarmist!