It's Not Just the Air: Enormous Trash Heap Adds to Water Pollution

Get ready to turn on the waterworks because there's yet another reason to stay away from Beijing's tap water – and it's not pleasant. A source for Beijing's already questionable water supply has been compromised by a 23,000 square meter pile of old trash, according to China Daily. The garbage was spotted Friday in Xinglong County, Hebei province, coincidentally on World Water Day.

If that didn't make you cry, then it's worth knowing that this "trash mountain" (laji shan, 垃圾山), as Chinese netizens have taken to calling it, is the latest environmental outrage in the days leading up to World Water Day, including a 10-story high heap of construction waste in the outer area of Beijing's Chaoyang district and a comparatively modest 1,000 square meter pile in Hangzhou.

Residents in these areas are not only increasingly more concerned about the garbage polluting their drinking water, but are debating the ethics of dumping trash. Beijing has been known to relocate their waste to areas outside the city as they run out of room inside. In late February, the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau promised citizens to investigate a three year pile up of garbage from Beijing that's now in a hole in the Miyun Reservoir – another major water source Beijing – but still no word on what they've come up with. Weibo netizen @qianbixin told Beijing residents:

The garbage is all going back to where it came from. You made your own bed and now you're lying in it. Any idiot would know the source of all the garbage in Hebei.

For a comprehensive guide to staying (safely) hydrated in Beijing, check out our post here.