It’s well-known that China’s struggling with some serious air pollution, but perhaps less talked about is the toll being taken on their rivers. According to a recent survey conducted by Chinese media, 96% of respondents felt that not a single river around them was clean enough to swim in. And judging from these photos, anyone who did decide to risk a dive would probably come out looking worse than the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The survey was conducted through the web by China Youth Daily, and about 40,000 people participated. Exactly 44.8% of these people lived in the countryside, which means that water pollution isn’t just an issue in the crowded cities, but also out in the supposedly natural world.
A little over 69% of respondents said that ‘the rivers around me have become polluted in the last 10 years’ and 96.2% said that ‘I wish there was a river nearby I could swim in’. Well technically they could give it a try in some of the ones below – scientists might be quite interested in studying them if and when they emerged again.
So let’s take a look at some of China’s most colorful, and probably deadly, rivers.
▼ I’d keep the turtles away from that one.
▼ Manufacturing as well as poor sewage treatment, industrial dumping and accidents, and the increasing use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture are all adding to the problem day by day.
▼ No comment on this one…
▼ I actually quite like this shade of pink.
▼ This could almost be the reflective green of a deep lake rich in aquatic plant life… until you see the last picture.
All joking aside, these photos highlight the shocking toll being taken on China’s natural world, and I sincerely hope they can get a handle on their pollution problems soon.
Source: Hachima Kikou