Workers prepare a mixture of aluminium polychlorid used to dilute the heavy metals that polluted the Liujiang River in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, January 31, 2012. Photo: CFP

The 3.7 million residents of Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, kicked off the Year of the Dragon with a panic-stricken scramble for clean drinking water.

A warning went out that the city might have to cut drinking water supplies after more than 20 tons of industrial waste contaminated with the heavy metal cadmium had spilled into the Longjiang River some 60 kilometers upstream.

Water samples in the worst-hit areas showed levels of cadmium 80 times higher than national standards. Local fish farmers, where the spill by two companies occurred, had their stocks virtually wiped out and hundreds of villagers had to have their drinking water trucked in.

Cadmium is an extremely toxic heavy metal used in industrial applications from batteries to smelting.

The toxic spill that interrupted the third day of Spring Festival was resolved after government workers poured bags of a neutralizing agent into the river near an upstream dam. Authorities say the river water near Liuzhou is no longer in danger and tests show it meets safety standards.

The incident seems a rerun of an all-too-familiar story, one that environmentalists say puts economic development ahead of the health of millions of people, especially those in remote areas.

People also complain that unscrupulous industrialists are being enabled by local governments that are failing to enforce environmental standards, while keeping the public mainly in the dark.

Toxic villages

Heavy metal contamination is polluting rivers, the seas and farmland and challenging the central government which for years has issued edicts aimed at curbing spills and requiring safer handling of toxic substances.

Still the accumulation of toxins, and the historic laissez faire attitude toward environmental degradation, has contributed to a shocking list of communities where residents face serious health hazards. 

Now reports are emerging of "cancer villages" in rural China where villagers have developed horrific diseases caused by an accumulation of heavy metals in the soil, water and ultimately their food. It's only recently that some local health authorities have made the correlation between years of mismanagement of hazardous wastes and a sometimes exponential increase in deadly diseases.

"Factories keep polluting, adding to the accumulation, we've now reached the stage of the last straw," said Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Official statistics show about one 10th of China's arable land and about 12 million tons of the country's annual grain production are polluted by heavy metal.

Many experts say the problem is much worse and have determined that 10 percent of the rice sold on the market contains high levels of cadmium.

A recently released report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection showed that in 2009 the cost of environmental deterioration and ecological damage accounted for 3.8 percent of the GDP that year, an increase of 9.2 percent from the previous year.

"The recent cadmium pollution incident (in Guangxi) again shows the urgency of the challenge we face," said Ma.

Authorities in Guangxi announced that two companies were the source of the cadmium. Although the companies denied they were solely responsible for the toxic waste, the managers were detained and local environmental protection officials were dismissed or punished.

The Guangxi government also vowed to begin a wider clean-up of polluters and started to crack down on small mines and industrial workshops. They said over the next five years they would transform industries that use the heavy metals, which are the pillar of the local economy, to make them adhere to greener production methods.

Health vs wealth

Increasing public awareness and a keener sense that people's health is more important than wealth has led the media to start covering dangerous pollution spills more openly.

A number of toxic spills and mishandling of dangerous substances have galvanized some communities where people have taken their fears and concerns onto the streets. In 2009, 32 mass incidents relating to heavy metal pollution were reported.

While environmentalists want change to happen now, they also know it won't be easy and it won't be cheap.

A case in point is an incident in Yunnan Province between April and June last year in which two truckers were accused of dumping 5,000 tons of chromium-6 in villages around the city of Qujing without regard to the consequences. Predictably heavy rains washed the toxic industrial waste, that originated from the Luliang chemical plant, into a local reservoir.

Local authorities, apparently fearing the economic fallout, covered up the incident for two months. The contamination was finally exposed by a Web user who posted details online in August.

The authorities immediately announced that the toxic waste had been cleaned up and the two truckers had been punished. The State Environmental Protection Ministry then jumped in and ordered the chemical plant to suspend operations and clean up the residual chromium.

Within a month however, the factory resumed production. Officials from the local environmental protection department said it had to let the plant operate so it could make the money needed to fund the cleanup.

Tax revenue and jobs

The company is located in a village of 3,000 people, employs 300-400 villagers and provides about 20 million yuan in local taxes a year. It's likely many families would have had a difficult time providing the basic necessities of life without their income from the plant.

While many environmentalists might sympathize with the economic plight of people dependant on dirty industries for their livelihoods, they also agree that continuing unsound environmental practices can only make matters worse.

"We shouldn't just shut down factories. We have to help transform industry and allow the factories to get clean," said Ma. "But polluting the environment and damage to the health of workers and their families far outweighs short-term economic benefits."

Instead of burying their heads in the sand Ma wants local authorities to find ways of enforcing environmental laws and regulations.

"Because of weak law enforcement there's a lack of motivation, it's cheaper for companies to violate environmental laws than obey them," said Ma, suggesting that polluting factories find it more cost effective to pay fines than spend money on changing production practices. 

With some local industry and officials refusing to take even baby steps to stop killing the environment, people are now attempting to use the courts to protect their health. Many believe China's environmental jurisprudence is decades behind the West.

Looking to courts for help

Wang Canfa, a law professor from the China University of Political Science and Law, leads a center that has been providing legal help to pollution victims since 1999. Last year the center took on 40 cases, about a quarter of them involving heavy metal pollution.

Wang said neither the government nor the courts are helpful when members of the public attempt to sue a polluting industry. "Even though defendants are responsible for proving the pollution they cause has not harmed people's health, it's difficult for victims to gather evidence and it's difficult to get the courts to rule on such cases," said Wang.

Once again the need to expand GDP seems to take precedent as mining and smelting factories provide jobs and other spin-off commerce from real estate to restaurants. Wang said this is why local authorities often try to influence a law suit in favor of the polluter.

More than 30 NGOs have been tracking heavy metal pollution produced along the supply chain of the IT industry. They have issued five reports since 2008, two of which targeted Apple Inc.

Their research found that suppliers to 29 international brands including Sanyo, Sony and HP were causing various degrees of heavy metal pollution.

While trying to embarrass international companies into doing the right thing might help in some sectors, Ma believes better access to information and government transparency are key.

"We need to promote government information disclosure and public participation so local protectionism and wrongdoing can be exposed," said Ma.

Last month Ma's institute published a status report on the handling of information disclosure by 113 cities. The report graded the cities on their transparency and found that the cities averaged slightly more than 40 points on a scale of 100. That's an improvement over the 31-point average three years ago, but Ma says it shows government and industry are still not transparent enough.

The list grows longer

August 2011
Yunnan authorities attempted to cover up a spill of more than 5,000 tons of toxic in-dustrial waste contaminated with chromium last summer that polluted Qujing’s water reservoir.

July 2010
A copper smelter of Zijin mining company leaked 9,100 cubic meters of acidic water into Tingjiang River in Fujian Province, killing more than 1 million kilos of fish.

April 2009
Over 800 children were diagnosed with elevated levels of lead in their blood in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province. Not long after, hundreds of kids were found with the same illness in Wugang, Hunan Province. In October, almost 1,000 children were diagnosed with elevated lead levels in their blood in Jiyuan, Henan Province.

December 2005
A smelting company in Guangdong Province discharged waste water containing cadmium into the Beijiang River, causing several cities along the river to stop supplying tap water.