 A man has a smoke at a pond filled with dead fish on the outskirts of China’s Wuhan city. (Image: Reuters) |
The United Nations revealed that up to 1.8 billion people are currently using water contaminated with pathogens or toxic substances that cause for diarrhea, which claims around 2,000 children’s lives every day around the world.
China has recently launched a national campaign to control groundwater pollution. The groundwater in more than half of the areas tested in China is considered polluted to some degree, and much of it has been deemed seriously polluted, while 300 million people in rural areas do not have access to clean water. Around 88 companies in the country have been fined a total of US$1 million for polluting the groundwater.
In Indonesia, 33 of its 52 major rivers are also seriously polluted. The Indonesian Government has devised an emergency project to restore the environment of three large rivers and the country signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Republic of Korea (RoK) to restore the heavily polluted Ciliwung River that passes through Jakarta. The RoK has past experience in cleaning up the heavy pollution in its own Han River.
Countries cannot afford to overlook protecting their water resources if they want to achieve sustainable development.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
