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wSunday, July 06, 2008 | |
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 Green Games?Yummy Green stuff... here are snid-bits from the news about it... and definitely watch the video! Chinas latest Olympics nightmare is a vast algae bloom that covers one third of the sea where the worlds best sailors are supposed to be competing in just over a month. China scrambled Thursday to clear tonnes of algae that is covering a third of the Olympic sailing course and causing huge embarrassment for authorities trying to promote a "Green Games". An estimated 20,000 people and 1,200 vessels have been mobilized to tackle the huge algae bloom threatening the upcoming Olympic sailing event in east Chinas Qingdao. Up till now more than 100,000 tons of algae has been weeded out. Statistics showed that as of Saturday the algae had affected a total sea area of 13,000 square kilometers, four hundred out of which was covered by the foreign stuff. To make it worse, more than 32 percent, or 15.86 square kilometers of the guarded sea area for Olympic sailing competition, was also covered up. Water quality has been a concern for the sailing events, given that many coastal Chinese cities dump untreated sewage into the sea. At the same time, rivers and tributaries emptying into coastal waters are often contaminated with high levels of nitrates from agricultural and industrial runoff. These nitrates contribute to the red tides of algae that often bloom along sections of Chinas coastline. But officials in Qingdao said pollution and poor water quality did not have a "substantial link" to the current outbreak, according to Xinhua. Instead, scientists blamed the bloom on increased rainfall and warmer waters in the Yellow Sea. Algae are now blooming over more than 12,900 square kilometers, or 5,000 square miles, of the sea, according to Xinhua. ABC news report: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxeJtePu-k Well.... all I can say is Im glad Im not there at the moment, but Im sure theyll have it sorted by the time the Olympics come around! Yuck! Nikola Girke posted by editors at 7/06/2008 06:07:00 PM |
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