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February 2, 2015

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Home » Metro » Environment

Hope for village blighted by development

IN Qinfen, a rural village in the northeast of the Pudong New Area, fetid air, sewage-tainted creeks and contaminated groundwater are jeopardizing the health of its roughly 6,000 residents.

It wasn’t always that way in this corner of Heqing Town. A few decades back, this was a bucolic setting.

“In 1970, the skies were blue and the water was clean,” said 69-year-old Huang Yueqin, also known as Grandma Huang. “Now, in summer, when people open their windows to catch a cool breeze, there’s always an unbearable stench.”

Another villager, Pan Yueping, recalls fishing in local streams when he was young. The fish are now long gone.

“When we were thirsty from farm work, we would just drink water directly from the streams back then,” he said.

Rapid industrial development in China has turned many farming communities into victims of progress. In Qinfen, a sewage plant and waste landfill were built nearby, and a runoff from pig farms further desecrated the environment.

Village official Huang Huiping said 24 villagers now suffer from serious diseases, mostly cancers.

Another common ailment in the village is bronchitis. Huang blames the sicknesses on the foul water and air.

“Young women are reluctant to come and marry our men because of the poor environment,” he said. “If a young man doesn’t have the money to move, he will probably remain forever single.”

Reddish brown water

Zhang Jian, head of the village, said the processes used at the sewage treatment plant have led to well water turning reddish brown. In 2009, 48 households closest to the landfill were relocated, but the village didn’t have enough money to move homes a little further away.

“We once considered moving the whole village, but who can afford that?” another town official told Shanghai Daily.

Qinfen’s plight began to attract notice after Shanghai People’s Congress deputy Aisin Gioro Dezhen visited the village and reported on the plight of the villagers during the session of the People’s Congress last week. City Party chief Han Zheng promised action to address the situation.

“Government should never pursue development at the cost of our environment,” Han said, pledging a three-year campaign to strengthen environmental protection.

Shen Xiaoming, Party chief of the Pudong New Area, agreed.

“Pudong has achieved great results in its development in past decades,” he said. “But we have to acknowledge that these results truly cost some areas a livable environment.”

Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, said a team of officials visited Heqing Town in late January to conduct an assessment. He has promised action.

He said facilities and methods used at the sewage treatment plant will be upgraded to reduce pollution and the smell. An incineration plant will be built so that waste is burned, not buried. And commercial pig farms will be more rigorously monitored to stop discharges flowing into streams.

There’s also talk of transforming part of Qinfen into a country park, where visitors can enjoy farmstay getaways.

Zhang admits that cleaning up the environment in Heqing and other rural areas won’t be quick or easy. He cited the example of river pollution, where pipes to carry off sewage cover only 70 percent of rural areas. Stricter measures are also needed to control pesticides and fertilizer runoff, said Zhang.

Meanwhile, a three-year plan for environmental protection in Shanghai, addressing issues such as smog, drinking water quality, and waste disposal, will be open for public comment and later put on the municipal government’s priority agenda, officials said.

Grandma Huang hopes words will translate into actions.

“We have been calling for someone to help us for years, and now it seems that they are,” she said. “I hope we will now see some positive change. For that I would be very grateful.”




 

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