We noted yesterday that China had stopped imports of Evian because of claims that the bottled water had too much bacteria. Residents of Wuxi should be so lucky to have tainted Evian to drink. WSJ:

Tap water in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi is back to normal after green algae, fed by industrial and agricultural waste, caused a drinking-water crisis, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

Taihu Lake, China’s third-largest, was struck by a foul-smelling canopy of algae that left tap water undrinkable for more than 2.3 million residents of Wuxi, prompting a run on bottled water.

“The quality of water from all tap-water companies in Wuxi is stable and has met the standards for drinking water,” Xinhua quoted the local health authority as saying. “But urban residents in Wuxi…still depend on bottled water for cooking and drinking as certain polluted water still remains in transmission pipes.”

Algae blooms can develop in water that is rich in nutrients, often because of run-off from heavy fertilizer use, industrial waste and untreated sewage. If ingested, some algae can cause vomiting, respiratory failure and, on rare occasions, death.

Time for China to use that trillion dollar forex surplus to fund some serious EPA activity.

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