Comment on "Blue-green algae threatens Chaohu Lake"

The blue-green algal itself is less threatening than what it presents in the water. The blooming algal is only the symptom of the highly polluted water in the lake and surrounding rivers. It is indicating a high level of heavy metals and other pollutants, both organic and inorganic in the water. This makes the water undrinkable and unfit for irrigation. This is also how the safety of food supply chain is compromised.

The pollution is caused by poorly regulated factories, which for more than a decade discharged their raw industrial wastes into nearby rivers and the lake itself. Chaohu Lake is not the only lake that is highly polluted: the same also happened to Dianchi Lake near Kunming city, Taihu Lake near Suzhou city and other major lakes and river systems in China.

Unless the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and local authorities can work together to safeguard China's precious water resources, the future cost of providing drinkable water will be an enormous burden on future generations.

TunnelVision, on China Daily Website

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