News flash: drinking polluted river water does not prove it’s clean. Neither does swimming in dirty water, although the organizers of Guangzhou’s annual Pearl River swim would probably suggest otherwise.
It was following last month’s Zhujiang swimming event, in fact, that one Southern Metropolis Daily reporter decided to take things a step further, swigging three mouthfuls of sweet Pearl River fluid (we’re honestly not sure if we can call it ‘water’) during a live-streamed video to prove it was clean.
The video shot to viral status on social media, though probably for reasons the reporter did not expect: most journalists criticized the move as “unprofessional” and a form of propaganda.
“Journalists are not politicians, credibility is the most important thing for a media outlet,” commented one netizen on a related Weibo thread.
“What can he prove by eating feces?” asked another netizen. “He can prove that fecal matter is edible.”
We know for a fact, based on public government data available here, that the Pearl River is not clean. It’s not just ‘sort of polluted,’ either – it’s rated as Level V for surface water on a scale of I-V, with I being the best and V being the worst.
To give you an idea, surface water in China must test at Level I-II before it can be considered a source for drinking water.
The Pearl River wasn’t always so polluted. Throughout the 90s, it was Guangzhou’s main source of drinking water. By 2004, however, new factories in the city and surrounding areas were spewing more waste than could be sufficiently treated, forcing municipalities to look elsewhere for a clean water source.
Though the annual Zhujiang swimming event attended by thousands of locals – and the Guangzhou mayor – attempts to reassert the Pearl River’s status as a sparkling body of water clean enough to swim in (and drink), we highly advise readers to use common sense and avoid its murky depths at all costs.
READ MORE: Guangdong's Mounting Water Crisis
[Images via Global Voices, Matthew Bossons]
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