Water Pollution and Health Impact in China: A Mini Review

Abstract

For the last 20-odd years in China, an economic boom has resulted in severe environmental pollution; water pollution, particularly, is of great concern. It has been reported that pollution in China's overall surface water is rated medium. The water quality of groundwater, lakes and reservoirs has deteriorated. Consequently, such a general distribution of water pollution has posed a grave threat to public health in China. The health impact of water pollution has been documented in the last several decades; these documents are reviewed in this paper on several outstanding aspects, including chronic mercurialism, arsenism, cancers related to microcystins, health problems caused by organic pollutants and water pollution accidents as well. Indubitably, water pollution and its health impact remain enormous challenges in China.

Public Awareness of Drinking Water Safety and Contamination Accidents: A Case Study in Hainan Province, China

“…A total 32.0% of respondents said they pay special attention to reports of water pollution events on television or in the newspaper; 53.2% reported following such events when they have free time, and 14.8% of respondents said they were not concerned about water pollution accidents. In recent years, serious water contamination accidents, including heavy metal contamination, algal blooms, organic chemical spills, and microbial contamination, have raised concerns among the public [33,34]. Most of public often like to care about what happened on them, but based on the information provided by Hainan province environmental information public publishing system, there are almost no polluters in Ding'an and Ledong County and not many water pollution events in Hainan province except flooding and typhoons [35].Thus, there are not large amount of people to pay special attention to water pollution events.…”

Overview of Prominent Problems in Huai River Basin, China

“…It caused when pollutants are discharged directly without treatment into the water bodies. 25 Water bodies in China due to the result of rapid economic development, industrialization, population growth and agricultural expansion have been polluted and the water quality is below the standard in the past two decades to use the water for different purposes. In Huai river basin the water pollution began In the 1970s but seriously increased after the 1980s.…”

Towards sustainable utilisation of water resources: a comprehensive analysis of Ghana's National Water Policy

“…With the rise in population across the globe comes the need to grow more food and thus the need for more water for agricultural purposes (UN-Water, 2007). This has translated into overexploitation of water resources in some parts of the world over the years resulting in depletion of surface and groundwater resources in some instances -China and Saudi Arabia being classical examples (Lu et al, 2008;Brown, 2013). Estimates provided by the recently published World Water Development Report point out that, about three quarters of the Arab population live below the water scarcity level of 1,000 m 3 per capita per year owing to population growth and increasing socio-economic pressures (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2015).…”