NOTED IN PASSING
Noted FYI:
Groundwater is polluted in about 90 per cent of Chinese cities, with those in northern and eastern areas worst affected, state media on Saturday quoted a top environmental official as saying.
An increasing number of groundwater samples contain toxic substances, despite a 2004 national survey of urban and rural areas finding that 63 per cent of underground water was suitable for drinking, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, as saying.
‘It seems rosy because the survey only tests the inorganic matter in groundwater, but now more organic substances are culprits in groundwater pollution and it costs more to test organic matter,’ government geologist Wen Dongguang said.
Groundwater constitutes about one-third of China’s freshwater resources, supplying about 70 per cent of drinking water and 40 per cent of water for agricultural irrigation, the agency said. Article
