The famed Pearl River, China’s third longest, has dangerously high pollution levels according to a recent report from Greenpeace.
The report says that factories in southern China are dumping hazardous industrial discharges into the Pearl River. The river is the main drinking water source for the 4.7 million residents of the Pearl River Delta, including those in Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangzhou.
The environmental group said it analyzed samples over a seven month long investigation which looked at over 60 factories from eight cities in the region and its upstream areas. “A diverse range of hazardous chemicals” were found in the samples, including high levels of beryllium, copper and manganese, says the report. One sample’s beryllium content is 25 times as high as the local standard and the copper content is 12 times as high.
Also present were many toxic organic chemicals including a brominated flame retardant that disrupts hormone levels and harms the nervous system, immune system, kidneys and the liver; bisphenol-A which weakens fertility; dichloromethane which causes genes mutation and cancer; and alkyl phenols which reduces sperm production and causes abnormal sperm cells. These substances are slow poisons to people and the environment as they are hard to disintegrate and accumulate in the food chain.
Four of the five companies are Hong Kong owned enterprises, including two Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed companies. “Our findings represent only a small part of the truth,” said one of Greenpeace China’s Toxics Campaigners, Chan Yu-Hui.
“Water pollution in other regions in China is also alarming. One in every two [Pearl River Delta] manufacturers are Hong Kong [owned], and many of them are listed companies. These large companies should be leaders in promoting green manufacturing, instead of being the major sources of water pollution.”
Environmentalists call for immediate action to reduce and eliminate hazardous industrial discharges.
The full version of the Greenpeace report Poisoning the Pearl: An investigation into industrial water pollution in the Pearl River Delta, is available at www.greenpeace.org/poisoningthepearl
