NOT TO WORRY: THE RIVER WAS ALREADY SO POLLUTED THE CITIZENS DON'T USE IT
Chinese authorities rushed to soak up a 60 ton toxic coal tar spill from a river before it reached a city reservoir, but area villagers said the water had already been filthy and undrinkable for years.
Cotton batting, sponge, straw and activated carbon were being used to try to absorb the coal tar, a substance linked to cancer, before it reaches the Wangkuai Reservoir of Baoding, a city of about 10 million people. The pollution was traveling about 0.62 miles per hour downstream. Some 24 dams were set up along the Dasha river to slow the pollution's flow downstream. The good news is there is plenty of inexpensive labor available over there in China.
Shanxi Province relies heavily on its mining industry and is one of China's top coal and iron producers. Most of China's canals, rivers and lakes are severely tainted by industrial, agricultural and household pollution. Only a bit more than a third of the 3.7 billion tons of waste water discharged by China's huge cities each year is treated.
