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Industrial discharge is a key source of water pollution in China.
Water is the source of all life but everyday the world's rivers, lakes and oceans are flooded with man-made toxic chemicals.
The main sources of pollution are industrial production -- everything from electronics to toys to clothes and furniture -- and chemical intensive agriculture.
Our toxics campaign is focused on industrial sources, (our food and agriculture campaign tackles pollutants from commercial farming.)
These toxins can make us sick and can even kills us.
Heavy metals can cause retardation in children, while dioxins are carcinogenic and can cause problems with fertility. These chemicals are by-products of industrial processes.
China's water crisis
One of the main engines of China's rocketing economic growth of the past few decades has been the industrial sector.
| 90 million people, that's one in 14, have no choice but to drink, bathe and cook in water that contains so many man-made pollutants it fails global safety standards. |
While these factories bring wealth, they also intensely pollute China's precious water resources.
The situation is now so bad that 70 percent of the country's rivers, lakes and reservoirs are not safe for humans to use.
From 2006 figures, almost half of China's waste water came from industrial sources. The top polluting sectors are pulp and paper, chemicals, power generation and textiles.
The problem is that industry is guilty of illegally discharging effluent and the government needs to more strictly enforce pollution laws.
E-waste nightmare
Every year hundreds of thousands of old computers and mobile phones containing toxic chemicals and heavy metals are dumped in landfills or burned in smelters.
Thousands more are exported, often illegally, from Europe, the US and Japan and other industrialised countries to developing countries like China and India.
There workers at scrap years, many of whom are children, are exposed to a deadly cocktail of toxic chemcials.
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Greenpeace is one of the leading non-governmental organisations in China pushing for an end to the poisoning of the country's water and illegal e-waste trade.
•We are urging industry leaders to commit to phasing out toxic chemicals. |
