Textile industry and water pollution in China - Essay Example

? Textile industry and water pollution in China Textile industry and water pollution in China Introduction In recent times, China has risen to be among the world’s most powerful economies as the country intensely relies on textile industries as a way of assured sustenance. However, this aspect of economic growth has had a downside effect on the environment in which it has experienced intense degradation. Many analysts argue that the Chinese environment has suffered because the Chinese government has failed to create policies that regulate the Chinese environment. In addition, the lack of public awareness on the environmental challenges in China has also hindered any attempts by China in creating a proper balance between economic growth and environmental management (Wencong, 2012). Subsequently, the ecological factor in China has experienced the gravest effects and has formed the basis for the need to advocate for the safe guarding environmental. Additionally, conflict between Chinese government policies that foster economic growth and environmental concerns have also been significant in affirming the imbalance of health opportunities. The most vital claim is that the Chinese government is solely responsible for the deteriorating imbalance between economic advancement and environmental concerns. Therefore, this essay will delve its focus on water pollution caused by the textile industry and their effects on the various resources. It will also provide recommendations as how the Chinese government may overturn this trend within a preceding decade in relation to the textile and water pollution. Presentation of the problem As the current global statistics China, has at least fifty thousand textile industries making the country to be ‘the factory world’ (Ecotextiles, 2012). These textile industries are the prime victims of water pollution that has the forced the government to intervene as a way of protecting the Chinese environment. As at now, there is no strict legislation that holds Chinese textile companies viable for environmental degradation. This has influenced an increase in awareness of textile companies taking responsibility for the waste water from their industries. According to surveys, the chemical by products used in the production of textiles encompasses intense amounts of contaminated substances that have detrimental effect on human and the environment at large. This aspect poses a danger to the global community as the harmful substances find their way to the environment through the water used in washing these textiles by those that purchase these fabrics. The depiction here is that toxic chemicals find their way to water sources from the point of production to the last point of the chain that is at the point of consumption. Further, research has also unearthed that man made toxic chemicals used in the production of textiles have an effect on human health as the skins tends to absorb these harmful particles (Gang, 2009). Over time, various environmentalists have adopted campaigns that have the intention of influencing principal textile brands to less harmful substances in their production because of the effects that these substances present. Some of the textile manufacturers that have agreed to this campaign include Adidas, Marks and Spencer, Puma, Nike just to name a few. In this regard, environmentalists have initiated campaigns aimed at re-evaluating the legislation surrounding environment protection and support the natural ecosystem. In essence, the Chinese textile industry generates at least three billion tons of wastewater as compared to wastewater generated by other economic propellants in China (Menon, 2010). In addition, China recorded at least six thousand environmental violation instances from Chinese textile factories as per the Water Pollution map of China database. The Waste Pollution Map body has the responsibility of consolidating data essential for launching legal action against textile industries that secrete both solid and liquid waste to water bodies in China. Another of the body’s tasks is to creat3e a database of textile industries that pollute rivers through underground pipes and those that exceed production capacities without proper certification form Chinese authorities. Never the less, the textile companies that couple as intense water polluters tends to have significant corporate social roles pegged on them to which they do not adhere to at the local level (Carmody, 2012). The textile industry complements the Chinese economy as it contributes highly to the export index both locally and internationally. However, this has come at a price as China being the ‘global apparel workshop’ has had to grapple with the detrimental effects presented by the advancement of its economy. Over the years, a shift has occurred for garment export by most western countries as China was once the chief supplier of textile garments in the globe. For instance, the conversion of the raw material and the dyeing aspects of production served as the main entry to environmental and textile pollution. According to Fiber to fashion (2012) the less, China remains the renowned exporter of garments to the global textile market in tandem with the rising demand (Guo, 2012). The necessity of meeting the demands of the global textile market has forced most of the Chinese textile industries to disregard the policy frameworks to protect the environment from degradation. However, the implementation is not as strict as required because these industries continue to discharge waste to rivers that are essential in grain production. Presently, many of Chinese rivers have intense coloration that amounts from the wastewater from the textile companies. This is because China is the giant dyeing and finished textile product exporter to the global textile share (Wencong, 2012). Additionally, the Chinese environment experiences adverse pollution because water as a resource is cheap and hence making the textile industries to be non committal water treatment and pollution policies. This trend has attracted the interest of local governments in China, the public, as well as the textile industry stakeholders in an effort to streamline environmental management. Presently, the Chinese textile industry has effected the environment through land, energy, industries, water, air, and population. China, as most of the world’s economies has experienced a noticeable reduction of land capable for farming between now and the 1980s. Presently, the land hectares suitable for remarkable aspects in China stand at an alarming less than two hectares per capita. This aspect has been due to the expansion witnessed by the textile manufacturing industries in China. However, the reduction of arable lands also draws influence from a number of factors that include salinization of farming land, desertification, deforestation caused by soil erosion just to mention a few. With this, the inland fishing industries existing in China have suffered tremendously as their aquatic inland habitats no longer exist. Further, the Chinese Bureau for Environmental and protection of Natural Ecology asserts that the degrees in which Chinese forest cover has experienced degradation that has led to a decrease of up to ninety percent of plant cover. Moreover, Chinese wetlands have relatively decreased as time has gone by leaving the country with at least half of its initial wetlands. Ideally, the fast paced loss of arable land has left China with how to grapple with feeding its growing population. In essence, there is the perception that China has the largest population in the world as it has no equal. Other than the decreasing number of available farming land, the situation couples with water scarcity hence are creating the need for environmental protection. In terms of environmental control, China faces the unrelenting problem of providing the textile industry and population with sustainable energy alternatives effective in running this industry. This occurs despite the intense presence of coal, water, and oil energy options that inhibit China from having enough energy that its population may consume. In essence, a larger portion of the Chinese economy relies on coal as its prime source of energy to fuel its industries. However, environmentalists have attempted to discourage coal consumption to no avail because of its negative impact on the environment. Over time, China has concerted its energy source to coal for it is the primary energy source in the country. Other than coal, China is also among the largest consumers of electricity and oil as textile industry fueling mechanisms. Another relation that the Chinese textile industry and water pollution have is the increased number of industries that have continued to thrive in China. With the rise of these industries presence in China, there has also been a rise of pollution aspects rising for these factories. On the contrary, the industries also produce industrial wastes that have made it hard for the Chinese environment to stay healthy. This is because the Chinese textile industries release untreated industrial waste into the environment that may influence harm to the environment’s ecosystem. The perception here is that the untreated waste from these industries may contain contaminated substances that tend to cause harm to the environment. A clear indication of this scenario would be River Huang where great amounts of industrial waste find its way to this river. Principally, the waste deposit on the rivers draws from textile factories, food and paper industries, and oil mining companies among a list of many others. The waste channeled to the river is from companies that encroach river surrounding within the Ningxia and Gansu regions that are along the river. The waste is in terms of waste water that kills the ecology that depends on the river for survival and thriving. However, environmental activists are pro the idea for the adoption of technological applications by local Chinese government agencies to enforce environmental protection and protection of habitats for aquatic animals. The recent debate surrounding environmental degradation is the textile industries’ emission of gases to the atmosphere that tend to have adverse effects on the environment. Ideally, some of the gases that have characterized this debate are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane that research has proven to be air pollutants. Further, the atmospheric pollution is one of the reasons that environmentalists claim be the probable cause for global warming and climate change (Ji, 2011). In essence, environmental friendly analysts argue that China contributes at least ten percent of the entire global emissions which is alarmingly high. On the other hand, environmental savvy organizations intimate that the chemical emissions form industries is a probable cause for chest and lung ailments among the Chinese population. Further, the global warming aspect presents a challenge to Chinese and global food security because the gas emissions inhibit rainfall that is necessary for plant growth and sustainability (Boutler, 2013). China is the leader in terms of sulfur emissions and dust particles in the larger Eastern part of the Asian continent that makes the Chinese air to have dismal qualities. In a country bombarded with the task off feeding its large population, China has intense water shortages that make it hard for China to rely on food production and be sufficient for the textile industries (Zang et al, 2009). This predicament has resulted from intense water pollution on Chinese water catchment areas that have become a critical environmental issue. Further, the wastewater from Chinese industries situated on river banks in the Northern provinces coupled with ineffective utilization of the available water has influenced intense water shortages in the country. For instance, Chinese River Yangtze has turned in to a sewer as it composes mainly of waste from Chinese industries. In turn, this has created tremendous water scarcity for Chinese urban population as great number of the water supplied to the major urban centers is not healthy for consumption (UNIDO, 2004). However, the water shortages in Chinese urban cities does not result from water contamination as a great number of water drains away due to poor water harvesting capacities. The underground water supply sources are not the safest option either as a significant number of them experience population as they tend to mix with wastes from Chinese urban population and towns (Hays, 2012). Despite the fact that China has a remarkable number of treatable waste water, the government has lagged behind in putting up sufficient treatment processes plants that can sanitize waste water. Over time, population increase and environmental degradation issues most commonly in China. Principally, population serves as the prime contributor to environmental pollution as the environment cannot pollute itself. An environment characterized by significant amounts of industries and agricultural aspects exerts a lot of pressure on the surrounding especially on the natural resources. In essence, Chinese government has been unsuccessful in regulating and planning urban set ups that have facilitated an increase in environmental and population conflict. This trend has posed an irreversible impact on the environment through increased population rates and rapid expansion economically. On the other hand, there has been an increase on the young adult population that has created more need for the creation of industries in order to accommodate this work thirst population (Xiaofan, 2006). In turn, the lack of employment opportunities will facilitate a rise in crime and other vices. Another aspect of population impact as an environmental issue ids the fact that modernity has influenced the quality standards of living that impacts food production. Likewise, the Chinese population has increased tremendously as of the lifting of the ban on rural to urban migration as a way of influencing economic prospects. Subsequently, the congestion experienced in Chinese principal economic hubs has a correlation with intense pollution to Chinese environment. The urban cities of China have become prone to noise, air, and water pollution that generates from unmanaged solid waste. Therefore, the non effective application of environmental savvy policies by the Chinese government has frustrated food generation capacity with the decrease existence of arable farming land in China. Chinese government constraints and regulations For one the ‘one child policy of reproduction has failed to accomplish a controlled birthrate that the policy intended to accomoplish during its adoption. The population within Chinese urban centers has facilitated the water shortages ansd water pollution occurrences in China. However, the success of Chinese environmental policies would be through the Chinese government taking up much more responsibilities in order to protect its population and the environment. On the other hand, BBC News China (2013)asserted that the Chinese ministry of environment acknowledged that they were privy to the existence of ‘cancer villages’, though not in direct terms, that resulted from intense consumption of industrially contaminated water. However, the acknowledgement of these villages is not an assurance that the Chinese government is looking to halt the increase of cancer emergence in villages bordering textile industries (The Atlantic, 2013). The prime focus for the government should be in ensuring that textile production chemicals banned by other countries do no find their way to the Chinese textile industry through strict checks at the import entry points. Moreover, Chinese authorities need to enforce the treatment of wastewater laws that are in place as many of the textile industry players tend to neglect them. Further, the government through the responsible dockets has ensured that there are penalties and hefty fines for the industries that contravene the set environmental policies. However, most of these industries continue to harm the environment as they find the penalties to be dismal as compared to the return on investments that they earn. These companies opt to secrete their waste water that contains metal deposits to the environment in large amounts as they view this as permission to degrade the environment. Therefore, policy makers and enforcers in China need to raise the penalty fees that textile industries liable for pollution pay in order to decrease their contribution to environment concerns. The penalties that these industries need to pay should include a ban for the identified company from continuing to hold operational rights within China. This means that China should put the health of its population as a priority because an ailing population translates to poor economic growth. Reccomendation On the contrary, the Chinese government should hold the textile companies that have facilitated the growth of ‘cancer villages’ by forcing them to cater for treatment costs for those affected by their water contamination factor. Of course, this would be through progressive research on the water bodies to a certain whether the contamination aspects resulted from these industries. Additionally, the government needs to ensure that new textile industries do not establish their industry structures along water bodies like lakes (Wei, 2013). Instead, they should ensure that the current level of textile industries along water resources. This would help in the protection of the habitat for future Chinese generations that may be free of the effects of pollution. Moreover, the government should also concert its efforts in the realization of alternative waste water disposal rather finding its way to resources like water as this may limit the grain production capacity for Chinese population (Moore, 2013). For instance, the food security challenge may be a recurring problem as the Chinese population continues to grow at an alarming high rate. The government should also research on the chemical that textile industries within its borders may use in order for them to continue experiencing revenue from the global market supply that China supplies. The chemicals should be able to meet the environmental concerns that environmentalists address as pressing areas of need and undivided attention. When all these recommendation develop towards implementation stage, then the Chinese government would make significant stride in achieving equality in both economic growth and environmental concerns. References BBC News China. (2013, February 13). China acknowledges ‘Cancer villages’. Boutler, J. (2013, February 8). Food and Water Security China’s Most Significant National Challenge. Future Directions International. http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publications/food-and-water-crises/873-food-and-water-security-china-s-most-significant-national-challenge.html Business for a better World. (2009). Case Studies: Cleaning Up Industrial Water Pollution in Southern China. Retrieved from http://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/case-study-view/cleaning-up-industrial-water-pollution-in-southern-china Carmody, L. (2012). 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