Algae battle continues

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-5  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THOUSANDS of soldiers and volunteers in east China's coastal city of Qingdao, host of the Olympic sailing events, were still battling a major algae bloom yesterday.

More than 1,200 vessels were at sea cleaning the foul-smelling algae, and inflatable barriers were placed near the coastline to prevent the weed from reaching the shore.

According to an emergency headquarters set up to clean the algae, its presence in the sailing competition areas, which span more than 50 square kilometers, had shrunk from 32 percent five days ago to less than 10 percent.

More than 110,000 soldiers and volunteers have been engaged in frantic efforts to clear the weed, which was first spotted at the end of May and started to bloom in mid-June.

A municipal government figure published on Wednesday showed the algae had been nearly halved since late June but covered 48.8 square kilometers of water by Wednesday.

By yesterday, sporadic remains of the algae floated on the water off the Olympic sailing base. Dozens of boats were at sea gathering the algae. An aerial survey was delayed when rain and fog grounded helicopters.

At beaches near the base, soldiers were bagging piles of green algae which had been dragged out of the water.

"It's far better now than a few days before, and the water is clearer. Last week, the air was rancid because of the algae. We all shut our windows," said Zhang Xiaolei, who works near the coast.