Millions at Risk in China, India Pollution Blackspots
Date: 14-Sep-07
Country: INDIA/CHINA
Here are some facts on the four places in China and India
in Blacksmith's "Dirty Thirty" where pollution potentially
affects the lives of more than a million people.
* RANIPET, INDIA -- potentially affected: 3,500,000
-- Tannery waste from the leather tanning industry in
Ranipet, a medium-sized town about 100 miles (160 kilometres)
upstream from Chennai, poses a pollution risk to surrounding
populations. Uncovered waste made up of chemicals such as
sodium chromate could easily leach into ground water supplies,
the report says.
-- Clean-up: A factory responsible for about 1.5 million
tons of untreated sludge was shut down in 1996, but the report
says no real progress has been made to clean up the site.
* LINFEN, CHINA -- potentially affected: 3,000,000
-- Carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, arsenic and lead are
among the cocktail of air pollutants circulating in Linfen,
Shanxi Province, which has the country's worst air quality.
Residents in the city, located in the heart of China's enormous
coal industry, have reported high rates of bronchitis,
pneumonia and lung cancer.
-- Clean-up: Linfen plans to close 160 of 196 iron
foundries and 57 of 153 coke and coal processing plants by the
end of 2007, and replace small polluting plants with larger
cleaner facilities.
* LANZHOU, CHINA -- potentially affected: 3,OOO,000
-- Heavy industrial emissions from petrochemical
manufacturing and oil refineries, as well as rising automobile
emissions, have dragged down air quality in highly
industrialized Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province.
Respiratory ailments are common in the town, which is located
in an arid valley with little wind circulation.
-- Clean-up: Various efforts are under way, including a
shift from polluting fuels to natural gas, and pollution has
been substantially reduced since 1998.
* SUKINDA, INDIA -- potentially affected: 2,600,000
-- Toxic chromium contaminates waterways, air and soil in
southeast Orissa state's Sukinda Valley, which contains 97
percent of India's chromite ore deposits, and one of the
largest open-cast chromite ore mines in the world.
Pollution-induced diseases such as gastrointestinal bleeding,
tuberculosis and asthma are commonly reported ailments.
-- Clean-up: Miners have installed treatment plants to stop
mine waste being spread over large areas, however, state audits
say they so far fail to meet agency regulations.
Sources: Reuters, Blacksmith Institute
(www.blacksmithinstitute.org)