Greenpeace sent news regarding the Pearl River the day before yesterday. As the “mother river” of our Guangdong province, what problems have arisen in the Pearl River?
Greenpeace
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Greenpeace Organization
Dear friends,
Do you like eating fish? If so, would you still have an appetite for fish that tastes like shampoo or soap? You might not believe such fish exist, so follow us to visit the Pearl River.
The rivers in the Pearl River Basin provide drinking water for 47 million people in the region. However, industrial pollution is now poisoning the health of those residents. Greenpeace’s latest investigation found that five enterprises in the Pearl River Delta are discharging toxic and hazardous substances into the Pearl River!
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The “Report” investigated five enterprises across different industries, including electronic components, chemicals, and textiles. These include three production bases of Kingboard Chemical Holdings (which has two listed companies in Hong Kong), Dongguan Cheong Ming Printing Factory (a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed Cheong Ming Investments Limited), and Qingyuan Guanlong Textile Co., Ltd. One out of every two manufacturing enterprises in the Pearl River Delta is related to Hong Kong. Therefore, Hong Kong companies cannot escape blame for the poisoning of the Pearl River.
These problems are not unsolvable. We call on enterprises to implement true clean production as soon as possible and for the government to implement corresponding regulations so that river water quality and human health can be guaranteed.
China — “The taste of the fish is a bit different. Fish caught near the chemical plant’s outfall have a strong smell of shampoo and soap, so we don’t fish there anymore,” said Mr. Li, a fisherman who frequently fishes near the Pearl River estuary in the Kingboard (Panyu Nansha) Industrial Zone. Facing the black and foul-smelling river water, Greenpeace’s latest investigation found that five enterprises in the Pearl River Delta are discharging toxic and hazardous substances, including heavy metals such as manganese and copper, and organic chemicals that seriously affect human health.
Shocking Toxic River Water
Abundant water resources are the primary foundation for the booming industrial development of the Pearl River Delta region. Products from this region account for nearly 30% of China’s exports to the world. At the same time, these rivers in the Pearl River Basin provide drinking water for 47 million people; their importance is self-evident. However, the industrial pollution poisoning the Pearl River is equally shocking. Our investigation report, “De-toxifying” the Pearl River: An Investigation into Industrial Water Pollution in the Pearl River Delta, specifically targets the discharge of toxic and hazardous substances from industrial sources.
“It discharges every day; the water is black. When the wind blows, the smell spreads throughout the village, and wastewater bubbles often blow into the house...” — Uncle Chen, 70, living next to Qingyuan Guanlong Textile Co., Ltd. in the Leyuan Village Management Area.
In the wastewater and nearby silt discharged by these companies, we not only detected high concentrations of toxic metals such as beryllium, manganese, and copper; the samples also revealed various organic chemicals belonging to different chemical categories, many of which have been confirmed or are likely to be toxic and hazardous substances. Among the organic chemicals detected were brominated flame retardants (TBBPA), which interfere with the endocrine system and affect the nervous and immune systems; Bisphenol A, which affects the reproductive system; dichloromethane, a carcinogen; and octylphenol and nonylphenol, which reduce sperm counts and increase the occurrence of deformed sperm. Many of these types of toxic and hazardous substances are difficult to degrade and accumulate through the food chain, posing a great threat to animal and human health. Even “discharging according to standards” cannot control their long-term hazards, and traditional end-of-pipe treatment is helpless against them.
Hong Kong-funded Enterprises Cannot Escape Blame
In the report we released, the five investigated enterprises belong to different industries such as electronic components, chemicals, and textiles. These include three production bases of Kingboard Chemical Holdings, which has two listed companies in Hong Kong; Dongguan Cheong Ming Printing Factory, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed Cheong Ming Investments Limited; and Qingyuan Guanlong Textile Co., Ltd. One out of every two manufacturing enterprises in the Pearl River Delta is related to Hong Kong, and four of the five polluting enterprises found in this investigation are Hong Kong-funded. Therefore, Hong Kong companies cannot escape blame for the poisoning of the Pearl River.
Greenpeace staff taking samples at a discharge outlet near Qingyuan Guanlong Textile Co., Ltd. in Guangdong Province.
“These companies must immediately stop their polluting behavior and take practical actions to eliminate the discharge of toxic and hazardous substances,” said our project manager, Chen Yuhui. “They first need to investigate the reasons for discharging these pollutants and come up with a specific timetable, then gradually achieve clean production by improving production processes and seeking alternative substances.”
Challenging Toxic and Hazardous Substance Pollution
In response to toxic and hazardous substance pollution, many countries and regions around the world have introduced laws and policies emphasizing the prevention and avoidance of pollution, rather than just end-of-pipe treatment. China introduced the Clean Production Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China in 2002. However, Chen Yuhui told everyone, “The current pollution control models and related regulations still need further improvement and refinement. The focus of our country’s water pollution control is still largely concentrated on conventional pollutants such as chemical oxygen demand (COD) or total suspended solids (TSS), while letting quite a few toxic and hazardous substances slip through.”
One of the water sampling sites: Kingboard (Panyu Nansha) Industrial Zone.
The Clean Production Promotion Law has laid an important foundation, but regarding how to truly reduce or even eliminate the discharge of toxic and hazardous substances, we still need to see specific action plans and timetables. We demand that these enterprises stop polluting immediately, and we also call on the government to include more toxic and hazardous substances under supervision, eventually eliminating their discharge to achieve clean production.
The findings this time are just the tip of the iceberg, and the pollution situation in many other regions of China is not optimistic. As China’s most active industrial production area and the “world’s factory,” the Pearl River Delta especially needs to keep pace with the times and become a pioneer in promoting clean production. For China to move away from the old path of polluting first and treating later, it is even more necessary to timely improve laws and strengthen supervision to block pollution at the source.
Greenpeace Address: http://act.greenpeace.org.cn/nl/2009/10/29/newsletter.html
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