Water Resources Engineering (WRE) connects to economic, environmental, and societal issues. Our student Justin Rosenberg makes this connection in Shanghai, China. This current event was reported in The Guardian, on December 23, 2016, under the title “Shanghai water supply hit by 100-tonne wave of garbage,” by Benjamin Haas. This event is unlikely to be fake news, and it’s accuracy is bolstered and facts backed-up by its coverage in the Shanghai Daily.

Shanghai’s water supply is under threat from literal waves of garbage. The Dongfengxisha Reservoir, one of four reservoirs serving as a source of drinking water, and fed by the city’s Huangpu River, has been found inundated by waste illegally dumped from boats upstream (Haas, 2016). This shocking event clearly relates to WRE, as it falls under the purview of water distribution, and more specifically, water and wastewater treatment, as the water supply is highly polluted. The revelations of this widespread dumping are important news for WRE because as it greatly impacts the water security and safety of up to 700,000 people and impacts one of the chief tenets of WRE: to provide people with consistent and safe drinking water, both of which are not fully accomplished because of the pollution.  Although the article provides key information on the source of the garbage, as well as specific constituents of the waste, it fails to provide more detailed information on specific clean-up efforts, those responsible for the dumping, and results from water quality tests of the drinking water supply.

The detrimental dumping practices have serious and far-reaching economic, environmental, and societal issues. The threat to Shanghai’s water supply carries great economic impact. Because of the sheer load of garbage, the city water authority must pour money into costly programs and efforts to ensure proper clean-up. The Shanghai Water Authority has been performing water tests with increased frequency and specificity, which incurs higher costs (Haas, 2016). The city has deployed workers to salvage garbage from the river bank, and the Chongming water authority has carried out a garbage collection campaign; although the combined efforts have salvaged more than 100 tons of garbage, the Dongfengxisha Reservoir remains teeming with trash (Haas, 2016; Jian, 2016). Additionally, Shanghai must invest more money into water treatment efforts, as the leachate from the waste contains extremely harmful substances, such as chlorobenzene (Haas, 2016). The city water authority has also had to organize enhanced patrols of the downstream Qingcaosha Reservoir, to maintain the efficacy of another major tap water source for downtown residents (Jian, 2016). All these factors contribute to economic strain on the city’s resources and water infrastructure, and the current problems limit further development and innovation. Shanghai’s “garbage wave” presents clear environmental issues. The floating garbage threatens upstream ecosystems; much of the garbage has been found in reed marshes and wetlands near the reservoir, and wildlife has been trapped or smothered by the trash. The waste has greatly increased the amounts of toxic compounds in the water supply. Chlorobenzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and various medical wastes have accumulated in the water far above safe limits (Haas, 2016; Liu et al., 2009). The influx of nutrients from the waste can lead to increased algal blooms, which then die-off and decompose, creating hypoxic zones detrimental to fish and other aquatic life. This WRE event has sweeping societal impacts, paramount among these is the safety of Shanghai’s residents. The pollution of the reservoir, and Huangpu River in total, have contributed to nosebleeds, rashes, and severe illness, such as leukemia. Harmful chemicals have been introduced into the water supply; high concentrations of chlorobenzene were detected, and in some locations were found to be nearly 100,000 times above the safe limit (Haas, 2016). Chief among the garbage is medical waste; used hypodermic needles, catheter bags, and IV sacks have washed ashore in astounding numbers, and these present evident health hazards, such as communicable diseases and physical injury. Mei et al. demonstrated a similar finding in their examination of the Huangpu River. They found overall concentrations of personal care products and pharmaceuticals (PPCPs) to be as high as 1455 ng/L and attributed this to leachate from medical waste as well as untreated wastewater entering the river (Mei et al., 2017). The WRE has a clear effect on societal issues, as the increase in PPCPs can directly linked to the influx of medical waste, presenting a clear and present danger to public health and safety. The trust of Shanghai’s residents in the city government has also been strained; despite various complaints about the condition of the drinking water, local officials have largely ignored these claims. The city also claimed water tests revealed the water supply remained uncompromised, yet have halted the flow from the Dongfengxisha Reservoir, further fraying the trust of the public in the government (Haas, 2016).

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Figure 1: Waste accumulated along an abutment of the Dongfengxisha Reservoir. Many sites along the reservoir and the shores of Huangpu River emulate this scene.

References

Haas B. Shanghai water supply hit by 100-tonne wave of garbage. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/23/shanghai-water-supply-hit-by-100-tonne-wave-of-garbage. Published December 23, 2016. Accessed February 6, 2019.

Jian Y. Suspects held after garbage engulfs island. Shanghai Daily. https://archive.shine.cn/metro/society/Suspects-held-after-garbage-engulfs-island/shdaily.shtml. Published December 12, 2016. Accessed February 6, 2019.

Liu Y, Chen L, Huang Q-hui, Tang Y-jian, Zhao J-fu. Source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments of the Huangpu River, Shanghai, Chin. Science of the Total Environment. 2009;407(8):2931-2938.

Mei X, Sui Q, Lyu S, Wang D, Zhao W. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the urban river across the megacity Shanghai: Occurrence, source apportionment and a snapshot of influence of rainfall. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2017;359:429-436.