In 2008, the Thames River was a polluted mess. There were many untreated sewage, industrial waste, and garbage deposits which made the river not only an environmental nightmare, but a risk to public health. The primary souce of the pollution in the Thames river was caused by thousands of gallons of untreated raw sewage, which overflowed into the river from the overwhelmed sewage treatment infrastructure in London during storms and periods of heavy rainfall. Due to inadequate funding for and development of infrastructure necessary to prevent ecological disasters like the mass expulsion of waste water into the Thames, the surrounding environment has suffered levels of pollution which have grown to constitute a risk to public health. In addition to inadequate infastruture, such as larger more modern sewage treatment facilities in cities like London, there has also been a lack of governmental regulation and enforcement regarding the disposal of hazardous substances into local water sources. The impact of this lack of regulation is made most evident in the Huangpu River, which is the primary water supply for the Shanghai region in China. The Huangpu river has become polluted from the irresponsible disposal of toxic chemicals and substances such as heavy metals, which are biproducts of industrial development, as well as agricultural waste, such as the mass-duming of thousands of pig carcasses into the river.
A vast majority of the major environmental pollution in areas like the Thames river in London and the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China is a product of insufficient government regulation and industrial negligence when it comes to disposing of hazardous wast materials. While environmental pollution in the Thames and Huangpu rivers continues to be a massive problem , recent efforts to curb the impact of pollution have shown signs of progress. Thanks to concentrated efforts of government agencies, nonprofit organizations and concerned citizens, by 2014 the Thames river began to look much cleaner because of a new sewage treatment and a large effort to clean the river. (O’Sullivan) Now, in 2016, a new “super sewer” facility is planned to be installed on the Thames River to improve the effectiveness and of the cleaning process. The Thames River may soon return the status of a river that people want to swim soon, and the progress is evident by the ecosystem and wildlife that have already began to return to the area. (Tideway)
Similarly, in Shanghai, China, water pollution was considered as bad as the air pollution there, both of which constituted public health concerns. (Kuo) The Huangpu River is a primary daily source of water for the citizens of Shanghai and the surrounding region. The dire nature of the river’s environmental health highlights the problem of pollution not only for the people of Shanghai, but also for hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens living in areas impacted by industrial and agricultural pollution. In China’s 30 largest urban areas, including Shanghai and Bejing, depend on water from “surface catchment areas” such as rivers for 93% of their daily drinking water. However, a report published by the Nature Conservancy, a leading global environmental conservation organization, revealed that 73% of those surface catchment areas were threatened by “medium to high pollution levels.” (Jinran) However, in 2013 a five-year plan with a cost of 27 trillion yuan was put into place by the Chinese government and Environmental Ministry to clean up the water and air in and around the Shanghai region. (Chinadaily.com.cn) Historically, both the Thames and Huangpu rivers have experienced pollution problems directly caused by industrialization which have caused damage to the environment and destabilized ecological systems. The Thames River was a salmon habitat, however, when dams and locks were built, the salmon stopped spawning and the health of the ecosystem began to decline. The Huangpu River has had a similar story.
An article published by The Guardian in 2004 highlights an investigation about the discharge of raw sewage into the river. It was advised that people avoid activities such as swimming or rowing in the river after a rainfall, as an estimated 600,000 tons of raw sewage drained from treatment plants into the river. Water sports enthusiasts became ill during this period and the officials decided to test the water. The Health Protection Agency began to focus on the health and welfare of the people who used the river after thousands of fish in the river died and people started getting sick at a noticeably higher rate. HPA officials tested the levels of bacteria and viruses in the water determine if people were getting sick from the water. Scientists released the results of the analyses which determined that the illnesses were directly linked to the exposure to contaminated water from the Thames. Government and HPA officials warned the public to stay away from the river after a rainfall, as sewage treatment plants would overflow, releasing waste water containing condoms, needles, and other unsanitary materials. The solution proposed by the government was to build a 22-mile tunnel that would be used to deal with raw sewage but the plan was not considered an effective solution for dealing with the environmental threat. (The Guardian)
In 2014, The Atlantic City Lab reported that there was a significant improvement to ecological health of the Thames River, which was attributed to the improvement to the sewage treatment plant that was helpful in cleaning the river. The improvement was considered a big success that which prompted the Indian government to wonder if they could use it to clean their own rivers. The improvement was such a success that officials in London reopened the Thames for swimming.
However, while the water quality of the river has improved, there is still a problem with issues like storm water runoff draining into the river. Part of the blame for this falls on the design of the sewers, which were created in the mid-19th century and not built for such a large modern city. Government officials decided on a plan to establish a tunnel to be completed in 2023 which would accommodate the excess storm water runoff, however environmental specialists told them that the instillation of “green” or grassy areas would effectively solve the problem. (City Lab)
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, the Huangpu River experiences same issues. The river has been described as a cancer source because of the pollution from sources including industrial waste, raw sewage, agricultural waste and other human activity. The issue is compounded by water treatment plants which have been unreliable and ill-equipped to deal with such a huge wastewater problem. (Huizhen) The river was supposed to be the main source of public drinking water, but it was riddled with contaminants including over 30 carcinogens and a high concentration of nitrogen in the water, which is hazardous to any living organism that consumes the water (Jinran)
Pollution of in the water due to industrialization and agricultural waste has become a massive problem. People have started to get cancer at higher than average rates because of the chemicals in the water and the cancer rate in Shanghai has noticeably increased since the onset of wholesale industrialization. Prior to industrialization, the city of Shanghai seemed to be more sanitary, as the people who drank the water did not get sick. This has been a very big problem. However, the government had a problem cleaning the water because the industry did not want to pay. (Huizhen) Villages using the polluted water from the Huangpu river have reported higher than average rates in various forms of cancer, but it is not only the water from the river that is polluted, even the groundwater has been polluted. (Huizhen)
A massive amount of the pollution has come from the industrial sector, which has been reluctant want to pay for recovery efforts. The Chinese government needed to do something, especially with the amount raw sewage and chemicals being dumped into the river and released into the surrounding environment, but no one wanted foot the bill. Finally, the government on a compromise which made industrial sector pay for their own plants and the government would fund the public sewer treatment plant. (Huizhen) The issue of removing and treating heavy metals and chemicals in the water still posed a problem that needed an affordable solution. Getting rid of the chemicals was made more difficult by the high cost of removing heavy metals from the water supply and a lack of funding necessary to solve the problem. (Huizhen)
Another element in China’s pollution problem was brought to public attention in 2013, when nearly 3,000 dead pigs were found in the Huangpu river. This highlights the rarely mentioned issue of agricultural waste in China. As of 2010, agricultural waste surpassed industrial waste as China’s main pollutant. (Kuo) The massive scale of irresponsible disposal of agricultural waste highlights how government legislation and regulation are largely ineffective if not supported by an appropriate degree of enforcement to hold rule-breakers accountable. According to Chinese law, farmers are required to dispose of animal waste at the community disposal site in their village or town, or else bury the carcasses with some form of disinfectant. However, the ongoing crisis of agricultural pollution in the Huangpu River demonstrates that many farmers don’t necessarily follow the rules. (Kuo)
Although mass pig death was blamed on an illness called Porcine circovirus that is harmless to humans, people still worried about what they were not being told from a government that has been notoriously unreliable when it comes to potential contamination of food and water. (Kuo) Evidence of this distrust among the Chinese citizenry as to the credibility of the government in addressing pollution concerns was demonstrated by a blogger from Wenzhou, who refuted the scope and scale of the “hog-wash” crisis reported by officials. The blogger explained that “tens of thousands” of pigs had recently perished due to swine fever, but the authorities only acknowledged the disaster when pictures began to appear on the internet, and even then, officials seemed to downplay the severity of the pollution by claiming that only 1,200 pigs were found. (Kuo)
In 2015, there came encouraging news regarding the control of pollution problems in the Shanghai region and China as a whole. The Chinese Government and Environmental Protection Ministry invested in an environmental recovery effort investment to clean the air, water, and soil around China’s major urban centers. The plan, which has cost around 9 million yuan so far, calls for the control of water pollution problem, so there will be less of a risk of exposure to contaminated water. (Jinran)
The Ministry of Environmental Protection will spend about 2 million yuan to make drinking water safe and filter the drinking water to get rid of poisonous chemicals. Part of the plan includes treating wastewater and no longer allowing waste water dumping into the river. Investment has also been made in air pollution and soil pollution prevention, which relates to the water pollution in a connected environment. (Jinran) The plan is to clean up the environment in the next five years, the progress of which depends on many factors. Part of the process includes environmental friendly industrial practices. If the industrial adopted environmentally friendly “clean energy”, it would significantly decrease the impact of industrialization on the environment. It would reduce the use and irresponsible disposal of dangerous chemicals and substances. Another important step is to stop dumping raw sewage and industrial waste into the water and instead properly treat the so it will start to become clean. (Jinran)
Results of the plan instituted by the Chinese government and Ministry of Environmental Protection have so far appeared promising, as the Ministry has claimed that the emissions in four key areas of air and water pollution have decreased between 3% and 10.9% “year to year” in 2015. (Jinran). In a statement, the Ministry claimed that the reduction in emissions was due to a combination of factors, such as stronger regulatory laws and stricter enforcement of these laws, as well as a changing economy which no longer heavily relies on industries associated with heavy pollution for growth.(Jinran) The Ministry also stated that revised laws on environmental protection had provided authorities with the appropriate powers to effectively regulate the practices of companies and local governments that engage in wholesale pollution.(Jinran)
This year, the Thames River has received very good news about its tunnel and new sewer system. London is planning to start work on a 25 kilometer tunnel that will take care of the storm water problem. The new storm water tunnel will connect to a tunnel in East London and from there the water will travel a sewage treatment plant. (Tideway) With the complex issues presented by global climate change, the need for new innovative solutions to addressing pollution such as the treatment of storm water will become more important for many cities that located on or near rivers. The project is expected to take seven years to address a problem that has been an embarrassment to London, one of the wealthiest and most developed cities in the world. London hopes to have the problem fully fixed in the next five years. (Tideway)
As world leaders like the governments of China and England continue to clean their respective environments, other countries around the world might become inspired to do the same. The conditions of life and overall health of citizens living in cities or other areas impacted by pollution may drastically improve, and the birds, fish, and wildlife will begin to recreate a healthy ecosystem. Making Environmental health and sustainability a top priority of world leaders like China and the UK is important step in addressing the health of the people living in areas impacted by pollution and the ecological stability of the planet as a whole. It is impossible to change the damage that has been done to the river ecosystem immediately, because it is polluted for a long time. However, it is possible to change.
The future of the Thames River looks promising. In the near future, people will be able to swim and have boats on the water for fun again. The birds will nest; the school salmon will return. Maybe the people will stop harming the environment if they see it is clean. The future of the Huangpu River may take longer than the Thames river. Cancer from the chemicals will be the past, fish will return to the river, and the people will fish again. Once the river is clean, the ecosystem will return to normal. We can only hope that the environment is not too bad to fix.
In conclusion, the most important thing one should remember is that environmental pollution is the product of human activity, and when the environment becomes polluted, the people living in areas impacted by pollution suffer the consequences. Pollution is a product of negligence, people did not care how they polluted the environment and it affected the rest of the ecosystem. Some examples include the industries dumped hazardous chemicals and heavy metal toxins into the public water supply in China and how raw sewage was allowed to flood into the Thames river when storm drains overflowed in London. Even on a small scale, like when people throw trash into the river, it becomes more polluted. All of these things affected how the rivers and surrounding environment became polluted. The lesson is that people need to take care of the planet in order for the planet to take care of the people.
Works Cited
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