Residents in the southeastern city of Daegu have continually worried about tap water being polluted with toxic industrial chemicals. The latest detection of dioxin in the Nakdong River is raising the specter of an environmental disaster. There is no doubt that the contamination was caused by loose control of the toxic substance leaked by textile firms nearby.
The state and provincial authorities come under severe criticism for neglecting their job of preventing the influx of industrial chemicals into the river, a source of drinking water for about 10 million residents in North and South Gyeongsang Provinces. The river pollution not only poses a threat to human health but also wreaks havoc on the ecosystem.
It is too bad to see the dioxin row days after the Lee Myung-bak administration announced its ``Green New Deal," aimed at promoting low-carbon green growth and creating more jobs amid the global financial and economic crisis. The government has also launched the refurbishment of the nation's four major rivers _ Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yongsan. How can the state realize its goal of green growth without even preventing river contamination?
Daegu officials detected 65.31 micrograms of 1,4 dioxin per liter of water in the Nakdong River near a filtration plant for tap water on Jan. 12. The figure is higher than the permissible level of 50 micrograms recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Excessive levels of the harmful chemical were also reported on Jan. 20-21. The levels then went down after the upstream Andong Dam released 50 tons of water.
Authorities are now being slammed for having done little to find a fundamental solution and just attributing the dioxin detection to a decline in the river's water level due to months of drought that helped increase the density of the chemical. One official even told people just to boil tap water before drinking it so the dioxin could evaporate. Authorities had better recognize the harmful effects of 1,4 dioxin, widely known as a carcinogen. Nine firms in the Gumi industrial complex currently release the chemical, a byproduct from the polyester-making process, into the river.
Stricter regulation on dioxin and other toxic chemicals is essential to protecting river and tap water sources. However, authorities only control the release of dioxin in accordance with a voluntary agreement with factory operators. The government only plans to introduce a legal framework to effectively control the substance starting in 2012.
It's imperative that authorities immediately enforce tougher, legally binding rules to avoid further river pollutions. The Nakdong River was contaminated with phenol in 1991, benzene toluene in 1994, dioxin in 2004 and phenol again in 2007. The river can no longer tolerate the dumping of industrial waste and toxic materials from some 7,000 factories located in North Gyeongsang Province alone. The nation should take radical action to prevent an environmental catastrophe before it's too late.