Polluted rivers on earth

[rtxoff]

Yangtze River in China

Citarum River in Java

Kathmandu Nepal

Santana do Parnaiba

These are just a few from the many across all the world.

[lajoswinkler]

Yangtze river in the first photo, as well as many other Chinese rivers has recently turned reddish because of huge amounts of silt that has been washed by the extreme rainfall. Although Yangtze isn't the cleanest river around, this is not artificial pollution.

Before alarming the population, check your facts.

[rtxoff]

Before alarming the population, check your facts.

Where did i alarm anyone???

[TechnicalK3rbal]

And I thought the river in my town that caught on fire was bad...

[lajoswinkler]

Where did i alarm anyone???

Well this seems to be one of those "Earth is polluted, we're doomed" threads, at least to me. Yangtze is not clean, but this is silt. It happens.

[DJEN]

The image of the Yangtze River may be somewhat misleading to certain individuals. So, I suggest you to remove the photo of the Yangtze and replace it with the photos of Korea's rivers, which were stripped of their ecosystems because of a damned stupid fanatical blind condemned policy.

Also, more information regarding their pollution status would be nice. Dear gpisic.

[razark]

While the Yangtze river may be filled with silt and not "real" pollution, is it normal for that river to fill with silt? Or did the silt end up in the river due to other human activity (construction, agriculture, etc) upstream? Just because it's not industrial waste doesn't mean it's good, excess silt that shouldn't be there can be considered pollution.

And I thought the river in my town that caught on fire was bad...

Cleveland?

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Nope

(10chars)

[rtxoff]

The image of the Yangtze River may be somewhat misleading to certain individuals. So, I suggest you to remove the photo of the Yangtze and replace it with the photos of Korea's rivers, which were stripped of their ecosystems because of a damned stupid fanatical blind condemned policy.

Also, more information regarding their pollution status would be nice. Dear gpisic.

Sorry even if it may be misleading to some individuals, the Yangtze is far from beeing clean.

Over the last 50 years, there has been a 73% increase in pollution levels from hundreds of cities, in the main stem of the Yangtze River. The annual discharge of sewage and industrial waste in the river has reached about 25 billion tons, which is 42% of the country’s total sewage discharge, and 45% of its total industrial discharge.

Source: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/river_decline/10_rivers_risk/yangtze/yangtze_threats/

The name of the thread is "polluted rivers on earth" and there is no doubt about that this also applies to the Yangtze. Would be easy to remove this picture and pretend that the Yangtze is less polluted then the other rivers on the pictures.

The picture stays.

About the other rivers i think there are no additional comments necessary for people with a pair of healthy eyes in their heads.

[lajoswinkler]

The silt in Yangtze and lots of other Chinese rivers recently has been caused by huge rainfall. The fishes aren't happy about it, but it's a natural process. Probably a crapload of organisms died. That's how nature works.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Vanamonde
No need to make things personal.

[DJEN]

Sorry even if it may be misleading to some individuals, the Yangtze is far from beeing clean.

Source: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/river_decline/10_rivers_risk/yangtze/yangtze_threats/

The name of the thread is "polluted rivers on earth" and there is no doubt about that this also applies to the Yangtze. Would be easy to remove this picture and pretend that the Yangtze is less polluted then the other rivers on the pictures.

The picture stays.

About the other rivers i think there are no additional comments necessary for people with a pair of healthy eyes in their heads.

Thank you for the information. By the way, why didn't you replace the image? Were there no good images showing its polluted state?

Edited August 3, 2014 by DJEN

[Vanamonde]

With regard to some removed comments, we can disagree with each other without making it personal and insulting. Please discuss the topic of the thread rather than each other.

[technicalfool]

Even the most polluted rivers can begin to recover, well within a lifetime too, if you can regulate what gets dumped into them. The Mersey is one example, though it's taken decades and from what I'm aware still has a way to go.

Also this is a pretty sensitive topic judging by the posts that Vanamonde's had to take a set of pruning shears to. Play nice, kids. It's not just a good idea.

[rtxoff]

Thank you for the information. By the way, why didn't you replace the image? Were there no good images showing its polluted state?

Hmmm, the awnser for this is that IMO even if it looks like an natural event i do not think that this silt got there entirely without human intervention.

China is doing something that is called cloud seeding, they are shooting rockets into the sky that are releasing silver iodide which in turn should concentrate moisture and cause rain (source). Basically there is rain falling where it should not naturally. I am totally aware that this rain is required to irrigate their fields which is feeding their population and so the whole thing is justified from their perspective but it is far from beeing an natural event.