At present, the water quality of drinking water sources in the Pearl River Basin is very worrying. The water quality of some rivers which are responsible for the main water supply function is on the decline, and the standard rate of urban drinking water sources is low. This is the information disclosed by relevant experts at the "2005 Pearl River Basin water resources protection work conference" held in Shenzhen on September 9.

How dirty is the Pearl River water? According to relevant data, the total amount of waste and sewage discharged from the Pearl River in 2004 was 18.27 billion tons, of which 13.95 billion tons were discharged into the river, and 52% of the total amount was discharged from the Pearl River Delta. So who fouled our drinking water? The monitoring results show that the heavy metals, inorganic nitrogen and petroleum in nearly 6000 square kilometers of water in the Pearl River estuary are almost 100% over the standard. The comprehensive pollution index of water quality in most of the Lingdingyang sea areas has reached the level of heavy pollution. The inorganic nitrogen in the coastal waters exceeds the four types of seawater quality standards, and the proportion of nutrient salts is seriously unbalanced It is obvious that this is mainly caused by enterprise pollution.

China is a country with serious water shortage, but most of the precious and limited water resources are under serious threat of pollution. Some experts say that this problem has become one of the major challenges China will face in building a moderately prosperous society in the next 20 years. The pollution of the Pearl River water area can be said to be a good example. The situation is so grim that if we do not take vigorous measures to solve the problem of water pollution now, maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we will not have clean water to drink. This is by no means alarmist!