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China's water pollution is very poor and is getting worse. China is trying to stop there water pollution but they can't do it by themselves. China's problem that started it was their huge population growth. Since their huge population growth their water has been slowly disappearing. Their water is also being contaminated by many different things too. For example, their water is being contaminated by benzene, and things like waste water.
On November 24, 2005 There was an explosion at a chemical plant in northeastern China that killed five people and spilled 100 tons of cancer-causing benzene into the Songhua River. The damaging effects of the accident continue to spread. The spill of toxic chemicals on November 24 poisoned the Songhua River, which provides drinking water to millions of people in China and Russia. The nearby city of Harbin was forced to shut off its water supplies to 3.8 million people for about a week. "Swift economic growth is frequently achieved due to a scornful attitude to ecology," Ishayev said at an emergency meeting. Ishayev is the Governor of the Khabarovsk region, he also predicted that the spill of the benzene would come into the Khabarosk region. He decided that it would also affect tham for a year.
Benzene is a cancer causing chemical that is ussually colorless or light yellow. It is also highly flammable. Benzene evaporates very quickly into the air. Its vapor is heavier than air and may sink into low-lying areas. Benzene dissolves in water a little bit, but will float on top of the water.
Benzene is formed by natural processes, such as volcanoes and forest fires. It is also formed by some human activities, such as smoking and the use and making of gasoline, crude oil, and coal.
Benzene is used a lot in China. It is used to make a lot of resources such as plastics and rubbers. It is also used to make lubricants, dyes, detergants, and pesticides.
Benzene is dangerous for many different reasons, but the biggest one is because it causes cells to work in the wrong way. For an example it may cause your red bone marrow to work incorrectly and not produce enough red blod cells, or it may damage your immune system and cause it to not make enough white blood cells. Also, if you are around benzene a lot or every day then you are more vulnurable to the damages of benzene. Another thing that makes benzene dangerous is that there is no real working cure for benzene if you are affected.
China has other water pollution also. Wastewater is another type of water pollution in China. The environment, society, and agriculture in China has been affected by wastewater pollution. Because of the wastewater pollution, China now has to deal with the issue of how to best handle the treatment of the wastewater in order to get rid of the problems it is causing.
The wastewater is also causing water borne diseases. Many times people get these water borne diseases by taking a bath in polluted waters, such as streams or canals that contain fecal or urine matter. People may also get these diseases by being bit by insects that breed in the contaminated waters. Cholera, Typhoid, and Dysentery are examples of water borne diseases which occur at a higher rate in China because of the wastewater pollution.
The wastewater also effects farming and irrigation. Because of the contamination and waste in the water, there has been an extremely large demand for fresh, and usable water for farming and irrigation. Since eighty percent of this farming water is used for grain production, this large demand has caused rivers and aquifers to dry out.
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