Undrinkable water and pollution in Shanghai

A Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) investigation in Shanghai late last year released results on Wednesday, showing that the wealthy city lags behind in water quality. Eighty-eight of 259 water samples tested showed a level of pollution “unfit even for farm and industrial use,” and some districts in the city had even worse quality than previous tests in 2013. Additionally, 800 polluting enterprises in the area that were ordered to shut down in the past four years have continued to operate. This and other recent MEP reports reflect how many local governments, including that of the capital city Beijing, continue to drag their feet on environmental compliance in order to preserve jobs and revenue. There is a press release from the MEP in Chinese here, and a Reuters report on the issue here.

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