The algae outbreak in the major waterways of Suzhou, east
China's Jiangsu Province, has largely been cleaned up and it will
not have any impact on the tap water supply, the local water
authority said yesterday.
The hot and dry weather since late June had contributed to the
outbreak, an official said.
"Our department has been stepping up efforts to pump more fresh
water into the waterways to dilute the contamination," Xia
Yonglian, an official with the city's waterway administration,
said.
The outbreak will not affect the tap water supply, he said, as
that is not sourced from the waterways.
Cleanup efforts combined with a recent downpour mean the algae
has been "largely cleared up in the city's major waterways", Xia
said.
In addition, authorities have dispatched more than 100 boats to
clear the remaining blue algae, he said.
A local newspaper said Suzhou had suffered algae outbreaks
before, but not on this scale.
A second water official, who asked not to be named, said the
outbreak was also partly caused by the inflow of algae-contaminated
water from Taihu Lake.
The country's third-largest freshwater lake was hit by a
large-scale algae outbreak in June, which led to the contamination
of the tap water supply to Wuxi.
The provincial government has since vowed to shut down more than
2,100 polluting factories before the end of next year as part of
their efforts to clean up the lake.
The companies are mostly involved in the chemical, metallurgy,
printing, dyeing, paper making and electroplating industries, the
Xinhua News Agency said.
According to a plan released on Saturday, Jiangsu water
authorities will eliminate all lake algae outbreaks within five
years.
The provincial Party Secretary Li Yuanchao said the "strictest
rules" would be adopted to fight environmental pollution.
In addition to the Taihu Lake outbreak, Jiangsu Province has
been hit by several other algae-induced water pollution scares.
Last week, the water supply in Shuyang was cut off for 40 hours
after it was found to have a yellow tinge and a bad smell.
(China Daily July 12, 2007)