Murky water woes
Chinese artist nut Brother can point to some success from his Beijing exhibit that used 10,000 bottles of yellowish water from the small county of Xiaohaotu in northwestern shaanxi province to raise awareness of contaminated rural ground water, although it did not go down so well with Beijing authorities.
“The air pollution ... is in Beijing, and is something everyone feels concerned about. Water pollution on the other hand, especially in rural areas, is a more subtle and serious problem,” said nut Brother, who previously drew attention to air pollution by making a brick from smog particles that he had collected with a vacuum cleaner. he uses a pseudonym and says he does use his real name in order to “protect” himself.
Residents of Xiaohaotu, where the average annual income is about Us$1,500 (RM6,092), have complained for years about local water pollution. They say the ground water, used to farm and drink, was polluted by the sinopec gas project launched in 2005. The Xiaohaotu environmental bureau found that the local water contained levels of heavy metals, such as iron and manganese, that exceeded national standards by as much as 4.2 times. its investigation continue.
While nut Brother’s exhibition in a narrow lane in Beijing prompted the local environmental bureau covering Xiaohaotu to launch an investigation and oil giant sinopec to partly stop drilling in a gas field, residents say is the source of the contamination, Beijing authorities took a dim view of the art and confiscated most of the bottles.
They said nut Brother had broken trademark regulations by using bottles labelled with the popular nongfu spring brand.
Drawing attention to social issues has been a staple of China’s art scene since the 1980s, propelling activist-artists like Ai Weiwei to global stardom, although it has become less prevalent in recent years as the Communist Party under President Xi Jinping has been increasingly intolerant of any form of dissent.
The government acknowledges that years of unbridled economic development has resulted in areas of the country with contaminated ground water. While it has stepped up clean-up projects in recent years, environmental activists say awareness of the issue lags far behind that of air pollution, while enforcement of quality standards is patchy.
When nut Brother took the remaining bottles and his exhibit on the road, local police pounced to confiscate them, saying he had parked illegally and was driving without a license. – Reuters