折腾
In the past, the global migratory bird migration site, today's migratory bird death lake: the residents here are like migratory birds, either die or migrate to other places - the heavy metal pollution incident in Tuke Town, Inner Mongolia
Heavy metal pollution incident in Tuke Town, Inner Mongolia
The migratory birds that came to hatch the birds died, and their bones were everywhere; the cattle and sheep that drank the lake water became sick and died within a few days; the villagers here either suffered from cerebral infarction, kidney stones, or high blood pressure... With the arrival of more than 20 coal chemical companies such as China Coal, Zhongtian Hechuang, and PetroChina, some residents in Tuke Town, Wushen Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, fell into desperation.
Residents complained that Chagannao Lake, the water source that the residents of Tuke Town depend on for their survival, was seriously polluted due to the illegal and illegal discharge of a large amount of waste water, sewage and poisonous water from coal chemical enterprises. The poisonous water not only flooded the pastures of the herdsmen, destroyed the collective sun and alkali plant in the village, but also caused the death of a large number of migratory birds, fish, insects, cattle and sheep. What is even more frightening is that the residents here are suffering from various incurable chronic diseases. Facing the tragic fate of migrating to other places like migratory birds, or dying here.
In order to save themselves, on November 16, 2019, six local residents in Tuke Town reported with their real names that the Hulusu Coal Mine of the Coal Branch of Zhongtian Hechuang Energy Co., Ltd. illegally discharged excessive mine wastewater, causing great pollution and environmental hazards in Chagannao Lake. . At that time, the local government promised to deal with it.
Two years later, has the pollution of Chagannao Lake been properly handled? Is the odor of poisonous water still being secretly discharged illegally? How has the life of the nomads been affected? Can migratory birds still migrate and survive here? Are the companies involved punished? Investigators came to Tuke Town for field visits in April 2021.
Newly hatched migratory birds die within a few days
Tuke Town, located in the southwest of Ordos, at the easternmost end of Wushen Banner, has 10 Gacha villages and 74 farming and animal husbandry cooperatives, with a total population of 4,686 households and 15,064 people, including 4,669 Mongolian people.
Chagannur Lake is a typical grassland lake, which means white lake in Mongolian. Chagannur Lake has a large area and is called "the sea" by many local people. It is the most important water source for the survival of the people of Tuke Town.
In mid-April 2021, investigators came to Chagannur Lake and found that the lake water was abnormally yellow-green. After walking around the shore of the lake for a few minutes, the investigators saw the bodies of many migratory birds, some with feathers left, and some with only bones.
Uncle Tian, who lives in a village near Chagannur Lake, said with great certainty, "Since the chemical factories of Zhongtian Hechuang came here, a large number of birds have died one after another, which is very tragic."
It turns out that Chagannur Lake is located on the migration route of East Africa and West Asia, one of the eight major migration routes of migratory birds in the world, attracting a large number of migratory birds every year.
Uncle Tian recalled that in the former Chagannur Lake, thousands of migratory birds came to forage here every autumn and winter, and there were many swans, which was very spectacular. In spring and summer, the frogs by the lake are cheerful, and the big mosquitoes unique to the grasslands are flying everywhere, full of vitality.
"Everything has changed since the creation of Zhongtian Hechuang. The number of migratory birds is decreasing year by year, the sound of frogs is getting weaker, and even the big mosquitoes in the grassland are almost dead. A large number of migratory birds died in Chagannao'er Lake. It was a scene I had never seen before, and among the dead birds were swans, and many long-legged birds."
What makes Uncle Tian even more heartbroken is that many of the newly hatched birds died within a few days of birth. "They originally came here to spend the winter, but I didn't expect them to die."
After drinking the lake water, the cattle and sheep also died of illness
Uncle Tian also complained that even the fish he raised in the lake were all dead.
Uncle Tian is a herdsman, and the herdsmen do not have the habit of eating fish. With the increase of non-local people, herdsmen also began to put all kinds of fry in Chagannur Lake. According to the herdsmen, "In the past, the lake water was clean and fertile, and fish could be raised up to twenty or thirty kilograms. However, the current lake water has long been unable to support live fish."
Not only that, the cattle and sheep that drank the lake water gradually died of illness. Investigators learned that for the residents around Chagannur, dozens to hundreds of cattle and sheep are almost all their sources of income. Since Chagannur Lake was polluted, cows and sheep drank the lake water and died within a few days.
Auntie Xu, a herdsman, cried to the investigators that just last week, five or six sheep died in her family. “Our sheep are drinking water in the Chagannur Lake and are often sick. If it is not taken out in time, the urine will flow back into the whole body of the sheep, and the sheep will suffocate and die. Such dead sheep cannot be sold, so they have to find a place to bury them.”
The herdsmen said that now they can only surround the Chagannur Lake and keep their livestock away from the lake. Worrying that the well water around the lake is also polluted, the villagers stopped drinking well water and switched to tap water and mineral water.
The villagers either got kidney stones, cerebral infarction and high blood pressure
Even so, what makes people panic is that the residents around the lake are still sick, either with kidney stones or cerebral infarction and high blood pressure.
Villagers revealed that the sewage from the coal mine became a vast ocean after being discharged. Cucurbitsu Village is a large village by the Chagannur Lake. The villagers revealed to the investigators that 40 to 50 of the 150 villagers in this village had cerebral infarction. Suffering from high blood pressure, cardiovascular blockage is not a minority.
Not only the local herders but also the truck drivers who came to work and live here with Zhongtian Hechuang have also become victims of environmental pollution. A truck driver told investigators that he went for a checkup last week and found that he had a cardiovascular blockage when he was healthy. His brother, another truck driver, who has lived nearby since 2015, has the same disease.
"When we came here, we drank water from a 140-meter-deep well, and now we were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. After that, we were very scared and started drinking bottled water."
Uncle Tian is also a cerebral infarction patient. He is in his 70s this year. He pulled up his sleeves and trousers to show the investigators. His hands and feet were covered with eczema. Uncle Tian recalled that when he went to see a doctor in Beijing, the doctor asked him, "Is there any heavy metal pollution nearby?" Encountered contaminated poison water.
"Zhongtian Hechuang secretly released poisonous water damage," said Uncle Tian.
The matter is not resolved, but the person who raised the problem is resolved
A large amount of sewage from the enterprise was discharged to Chagannur Lake, which not only caused the death of fish, birds, cattle and sheep in Chagannur Lake, but also flooded the pastures of herdsmen. Some villagers revealed that the company has paid for the pasture money from 2018 to 2019 and then no compensation was made; some villagers complained that the sewage discharged by Zhongtian Hechuang had flooded the herdsmen’s homes, causing the herdsmen to see the vast ocean as soon as they went out and could not get in or out. , and finally complained to the mayor's hotline and lost tens of thousands of yuan.
What harm will the arrival of Zhongtian Hechuang bring? Investigators came to Zhongtian Hechuang to find out. The day was cloudy, it was raining lightly, and there was a stench in the air. Analysis of the method of exclusion from the pollution source should be caused by the fertilizer factory of Zhongtian Hechuang.
Neighboring residents revealed that Zhongtian Hechuang Club emits odor, and the time of emission is uncertain. When the odor hits, residents have no choice but to close the doors and windows.
The fish, cattle and sheep died of illness, the body suffered from various diseases, the pasture was submerged, and the stench was offensive. Faced with such environmental pollution and living difficulties, the villagers in Cucurbita Village tried to resist. They came to Zhongtian Hechuang together to stop the workers from construction and asked Zhongtian Hechuang to give an explanation.
After learning about it, Zhang Zhixiong, deputy head of Wushen Banner, promised the villagers that he would handle the matter. Who knows, a few days later, several villagers were taken away on charges of "picking quarrels, provoking trouble and disturbing public order."
Villager Wang Sixi spent 9 months in the detention center and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, suspended for 4 years. During those four years, he was electronically monitored and could not go anywhere. He told investigators, "It's not resolved, it's the person who raised the issue."
Drilling sludge pollutes well water, and heavy metals exceed the standard
Tuke Town is rich in mineral resources. In addition to coal mines, there are large and small CNPC and natural gas wells distributed on the fine sand of Tuke Town.
There are many natural gas wells distributed on the grassland of Taobao Gacha. The investigators learned from the villagers that the No. 5 Gas Production Plant of Changqing Oilfield Company collected natural gas in Taobao Gacha. Although each household in the village was given a certain amount of gas well subsidy, the drilling sludge took up the farmers’ land. And it is landfilled in situ without treatment.
After that, problems followed. In the past, the people in the village were in good health, but now the village has become a high incidence of cerebral infarction, high blood pressure, and cerebral palsy.
Danis is a herdsman born and raised in Taobao Gacha. He makes a living by raising sheep and growing corn. After the oilfield company settled in, he was diagnosed with a cerebral infarction and has been taking medicine for treatment. His mother and aunt have passed away due to a cerebral infarction. His sister-in-law could not escape the fate of cerebral infarction, and now she has to rely on crutches to walk slowly.
One of the sheep they raised would die from time to time. The dog in the family was limping on one side and walking tremblingly. Danis said that the symptoms looked very similar to cerebral hemorrhage (cerebral palsy). Investigators also found that the dog had urinary incontinence.
All kinds of strange diseases made Danis suspect that it was caused by the sludge of the gas well next to his home. He took his own well water for testing and found that many indicators such as iron, manganese, volatile phenol, fluoride, barium, and total number of colonies exceeded the standard, which did not meet GB5749- 2006 <Sanitary Standards for Drinking Water>. Be aware that excess iron and manganese in drinking water can cause loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, gastrointestinal problems, and more. Too much iron in the body can affect the heart and is even more dangerous than cholesterol. Volatile phenols have the characteristics of concealment, persistence and accumulation. Phenolic substances can accumulate in various organs and tissues in the body, causing chronic poisoning, headache, rash, skin itching, mental anxiety, anemia and various nervous systems. symptom. In the process of biotransformation, phenolics can also cause cell death or induce tumors. Fluoride is mild to dental fluorosis, causing itching, pain, dampness and various dermatitis, and severe skeletal fluorosis.
After that, Danis only drank mineral water, not well water.
Another serious environmental problem is that companies such as Zhongtian Hechuang pump a large amount of groundwater, which is also an important reason for the rapid decline of the groundwater level in Wushen Banner and the shortage of water. The pastures are dry, and many lakes that used to drain underground water have dried up. This is undoubtedly aggravating for Ordos, which had very little rainfall. In recent years, the groundwater resources have decreased sharply, and the Yellow River water has to be transferred from Baotou for production water. This also greatly accelerated the desertification of grasslands.
However, in the town of Tuke, there are more than 20 water-consuming enterprises such as China Coal, PetroChina, and Zhongtian Hechuang. These coal chemical companies not only consume a large amount of water, but companies such as Cucurbitsu Coal Mine also discharge a large amount of mine waste water that exceeds the standard into the lake, killing fish, birds, cattle, sheep and residents of Tuke Town.
Investigators found that although the local environmental protection department has repeatedly punished companies such as Zhongtian Hechuang for their polluting behavior, these coal chemical companies still continue to violate the law, commit crimes against the wind, and only turn blatant pollution emissions into irregular and secret emissions.
The villagers complained that the fish and birds died, the cattle and sheep could not be fed, the water could not be drunk, the pastures were polluted, and people were sick. What should they do in the future?
Investigators came to Tuke Town again in mid-August 2021 and found that there were more migratory bird corpses by the Chahannao Lake, and the bones of different migratory birds could be seen within five steps.
Tuke Town × Xiaohao Rabbit
Tuke Town is affiliated to Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, and is a cross-provincial neighbor with Xiaohaotu Township in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. Both places are located in the core of China's famous energy belt. In 2018, Xiaohaotu's water pollution shocked the whole network. The coal mine involved and Sinopec stopped production for rectification. Domestic and foreign media continued to report, pushing the local government to build deep water wells for all villages in the township, and drinking water safety was basically guaranteed. The pollution sources of Tuke Town and Xiaohaotu are highly overlapping (the coal mines and natural gas companies illegally discharge pollutants).
Attached is the link of Xiaohaotu media report:
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