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Tainted water sparks crisis of confidence
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SEVERAL days have passed since a major pollution crisis hit the water supply of Lanzhou, capital of northwestern Gansu Province.
Despite the official announcement that water quality had returned to normal on Monday, citizens still dared not drink from the tap.
On April 11, the tap water company released test results stating that its water contained seven times as much benzene, a poisonous chemical and carcinogen, as was allowed under national law.
Considering that test samples were obtained as early as April 2, Lanzhou citizens rightfully speculated that they had consumed contaminated water over the previous eight days.
Investigation revealed that a benzene leak from a chemical plant pipeline seeped underground and contaminated the water supply.
There may have been early warnings about the leak. In early March, Lanzhou residents complained that tap water gave off a pungent smell, but popular suspicions about contamination were dismissed by city authorities, who insisted that water quality met the standards, except for a few high readings of ammonia.
After word of the leak got out, citizens began frantically stocking up on bottled water. Questions were angrily hurled at the government about whether it had delayed the release of proper information or even orchestrated a cover-up. It flatly denied both suggestions.
That denial has only provoked a fiercer backlash.
Allegation of corruption
As in many previous cases, mishandling an environmental crisis is a catalyst for protest and crises of confidence in government, and indeed, the person in charge. Lanzhou Mayor Yuan Zhanting is bearing the brunt of the criticism.
Yuan is being slammed, however, not for his perceived leadership failure, but for alleged graft. Back in 2012, rumor had it that Yuan owned at least five luxury watches, one costing at least 200,000 yuan (US$32,258). Local ombudsmen probed the rumor and found it to be false, clearing him of wrongdoing.
But during this water crisis, the old, supposedly dead rumor has been resurrected. Whether real or imagined, Yuan’s ownership of fancy watches was brought up again to embarrass the mayor — or indeed, to vent anger at supposed dereliction of duty — than to expose real corruption.
In the absence of mandatory disclosure of official income and assets, there is almost a tacit assumption that wristwatches are a telltale sign of corruption.
But the frequency with which cyber vigilantes scrutinize officials’ wrists is a reminder of the disillusioned public’s sheer cussedness and recalcitrance in dealing with the government.
As the China Youth Daily said in a Monday editorial, “The scarcity of channels for dialogues within the legal framework has caused the government and society to often engage in ‘emotional confrontation’.” Such confrontation has so poisoned public discourse that whatever the government says or does will be perceived with skepticism — sometimes unfounded.
Alas, the legal framework is denied to the public, once again, since the environmental lawsuit filed by five Lanzhou citizens in a local court was rejected on Tuesday.
Public trust
To placate the citizenry, Mayor Yuan and his government have to genuinely answer serious questions from the people and the press: Why did the water quality tests take so long, namely, eight days? Why didn’t authorities alert residents to the health risks earlier? Has everything pertinent been disclosed?
In 2013, 20,000 residents of the Changshou Township in Hunan Province reportedly were driven to drink mountain spring water for years because they feared contaminated tap water. Despite official guarantees about water quality, people remained unconvinced.
This is an example of how trust, once lost, is so hard to regain. Mayor Yuan may find it unfair to be singled out, but the watch brouhaha is the least of his concerns. The pollution incident again demonstrates how vulnerable government’s reputation is to mere perceptions of lapses.
Purifying the water may be relatively easy, but regaining trust is a lot harder.
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