Who Wants to Drink Polluted Water?

The article by The New York Times called Spill in China Underlines Environmental Concerns is about a chemical spill. This chemical spill had taken place at a fertilizer factory upstream located in Handan, China. This spill had forced them to shut off the tape water, which sent residents into a scramble for bottled water. This spill occurred on December 31^st and affected a handful of cities and more than 28 villages. The officials were irritated because the spill hadn’t been recorded until 5 days after it occurred. This spill brought attention to the growing problems with the water use and pollution in Northern China. The region had suffered from a drought for decades and doesn’t agree with how industrial companies should operate along rivers. Yin Qingli, a lawyer in Handan that filed a lawsuit in January against Tianji said, “Problems with water weren’t so serious before, but they have become much worse with industrial consumption.” Tianji is another fertilizer factory which uses water to convert coal to fertilizer.

In 2009, the water source had bacteria in it so we had to shut down all the tape water. Everyone was panicking and running to the store to buy bottled water. In this case though we were informed about the water problem right away and it was addressed right away.

In biology, we are learning briefly about some bacteria and a lot of bacteria are located in water. There is controversy over whether there should be factories, factories harming the environment, along or close to water sources. I think there should not be. The chance that the water will be contaminated is very high and it isn’t worth the risk.