China's Yangtze River is heavily polluted

A part of the Yangtze River in eastern China is contaminated with chemicals leaked from a cargo ship, causing thousands of people to worry and rush to buy bottled water to use.

Yangtze River is the main source of drinking and living water for cities in eastern China, including Shanghai, the most populous city. The river section leaked chemicals in Jiangsu province, causing people here to worry and fight for bottled water to reserve.

Shanghai Daily quoted Chen Wei, director of Zhenjiang City's environmental protection agency, in Jiangsu Province, said the current level of "does not affect health" and said the city is ready to close the lakes. water storage at the river mouth if the level of chemical in the country increases.

People in Jiangsu rushed to buy bottled water after
I heard that the Yangtze River was polluted. (Photo: Jiangsuwang)

Authorities have confirmed that phenol - an acid compound used as a detergent, leaked into the riverbed in the past week. The cause may come from a Korean cargo ship.

Meanwhile, the people of Zhenjiang and neighboring cities went to buy bottled water to drink after some people smelled "strange smell" rising from the river. A salesman said her supermarket has sold more than 10,000 bottles of water in just 4 hours and no water for sale.

Yangzi, also known as Changjiang, is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, after only the Nile in Africa and Amazon in South America.

Environmental pollution in general and pollution of water resources in particular are serious problems that China and the country industrialize and develop rapidly in economy and trade, face.

Last month, a leak of cadmium, which could cause cancer, from an industrial mine polluted the two rivers in southern China. Authorities had to recommend 3.7 million people in Liuzhou, Guangxi to stop using water from these two rivers.

China has made efforts to prevent leakage of chemicals and pollutants from polluting factories and facilities into the environment. But so far has not achieved many significant results, causing frustration and anxiety for many people.