On the night of August 23 to 24, tap water in residents’ homes in Taocun Town, Qixia City, Yantai, Shandong Province, flowed out black as ink and foul-smelling. (Online photo)
[People News] According to the Shenyang Municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, starting August 31, the Shenyang Normal University hospital treated 2,087 students showing symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea. Following the “faecal water incident” in Hangzhou, another “black water incident” has now emerged in Shenyang. Why are such social issues happening so frequently, and what hidden truths lie behind them?
I. The Shenyang Black Water Incident
As of Sunday, 5 p.m., a total of 2,087 cases of gastrointestinal symptoms had been reported at Shenyang Normal University due to the water contamination incident. Among them, 817 people had recovered, while 270 still showed symptoms, though all were mild cases.
The peak of the outbreak has passed, and the number of new daily cases has clearly declined. However, between 5 p.m. on September 6 and 5 p.m. on Sunday, there were still 25 new cases.
According to investigation and testing, authorities said the contamination was caused by norovirus in the water storage pool of the school’s third residential area’s private well. They classified it as a sudden public health incident.
Affected students reported being hospitalised for three days with persistent high fever reaching 38.9°C (102°F), along with vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain, and dizziness. Reports noted that such cases were not isolated, with many teachers and students suffering similar symptoms.
A graduate student, who also studied as an undergraduate at Shenyang Normal University, revealed that every semester before classes resumed, when she returned to the dormitory and turned on the tap, there were always black impurities in the water. Sometimes the water was yellowish, and the washbasin would always contain “black residue.” If she left the tap running over a towel, “it would turn black in two minutes.” Some students even described the tap water as “sometimes as black as petroleum, practically no different from oil from a well.”
II. The Hangzhou Faecal Water Incident
Starting the morning of July 16, 2025, large numbers of residents in Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, reported that their tap water smelled foul, was discoloured, and contained dark sediment. Some residents reported feeling unwell, and panic buying of bottled water ensued.
That night, Yuhang Water Supply Holdings confirmed the incident in a notice, stating it affected the Renhe and Liangzhu subdistricts. On July 17 at 4 p.m., the company issued another notice claiming that “water quality has been restored after testing,” apologised, and promised each household a reduction of 5 tons of water fees as compensation. However, even by July 18 at noon, some residents reported that tap water was still yellow.
After the incident, a “police notice” circulated online, allegedly issued by the Liangzhu Police Station of Yuhang Branch on July 18. It claimed that a cadre of Yuhang Water Supply Group had “connected 13 sections of the city’s water supply system to sewage pipelines” and then fled abroad from Guangxi Province.
On July 22, the Ministry of Public Security’s Cybersecurity Bureau issued a statement clarifying that the police notice was fake, accusing it of spreading rumors, and reported that a netizen surnamed Shao had been criminally detained by local authorities.
On July 19, the Yuhang District Government apologised, saying preliminary investigation showed the odour was caused by “sulfur compounds generated by anaerobic decomposition of algae under specific natural climate conditions,” denying claims of “faecal water contamination.” This explanation sparked widespread scepticism, as many said it failed to account for the discolouration and sediment in the water.
On July 23, Hangzhou’s joint investigation team released the final report, reaffirming that “sulfur compounds” were the source of the odour. They said the incident was due to “a combination of climate, environmental, and hydrodynamic factors.” They announced disciplinary actions against seven officials from the Yuhang District Government, Yuhang Water Supply Holdings, and its subsidiaries. The report stated that the incident “fully exposed the local shortcomings in public drinking water safety and emergency response to sudden incidents.”
III. Is Kaolin to Blame?
Both Shenyang, where the “black water” incident occurred, and Hangzhou, where the “faecal water” incident took place, are rich in kaolin deposits. Kaolin is used in the production of cardboard boxes—the corrugated cartons commonly used for express deliveries.
Public data show that China’s corrugated carton output increased from 103.52 million tons in 2015 to 136.34 million tons in 2024. The papermaking industry is known as a typical “water guzzler” and is also a major source of environmental pollution.
A research team led by Zhuola at Northwest A&F University previously published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), providing an in-depth assessment of the water and carbon footprints across the full life cycle of corrugated cartons used in express delivery.
They found that the production of corrugated cartons consumes vast amounts of water per unit, exerting significant environmental pressure. According to their data, the growth in consumption has led to a 102-fold increase in total national water use and a 25-fold increase in carbon emissions.
IV. Is Xi Jinping Drinking the Same Water as the Chinese People?
According to the State Council Development Research Centre’s report, China’s Water Governance Study, about 67% of China’s groundwater was polluted to varying degrees in 2017, and 32% of surface water monitoring sites failed to meet drinking water standards. Around 70 million people still face unsafe drinking water issues. In 2015, the rural tap water coverage rate was only 76%, and only 64% of rural areas had adequate sanitation facilities.
Drinking contaminated water not only causes gastrointestinal illnesses but can also lead to a range of chronic diseases, including cancer, nervous system damage, cardiovascular disease, and organ failure.
The Chinese government classifies tap water quality as follows:
Category I: Good quality; groundwater only needs disinfection, while surface water requires simple treatment (e.g., filtration).
Category II: Slightly polluted; can be used for drinking after conventional purification (e.g., coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection).
Category III: Suitable for secondary protection zones of centralised drinking water sources, general fish habitats, and swimming pools.
Category IV: Suitable for industrial use and recreational waters not involving human contact.
Category V: For agricultural irrigation and general landscape use.
So the question is: Which category of water are you drinking? And is it the same glass of water that Xi Jinping is drinking?
Economist He Qinglian pointed out in The Gap Between Rich and Poor in China’s Drinking Water that China’s water market is divided into a high-end and a low-end market based on quality. With 97% of China’s water already polluted, does that mean the remaining 3% of unpolluted water is reserved only for the privileged few?
There is no confirmed evidence that the Chinese Communist Party provides “special supply water” for its elites. But since there are already “special supply” channels for food and vegetables, it would not be difficult for governments to spend subsidies on bottled mineral water for officials, or even build separate water pipelines in elite residential areas to provide exclusive water.
Today’s CCP slogan of “develop first, govern later” is nothing but a lie to deceive the public. The privileged elite have never been exposed to pollution—the only ones who suffer are the ordinary people.
He Qinglian argues that from the very beginning, the CCP was fully aware of the consequences of sacrificing the environment. Its development strategy—welcoming polluting industries to boost GDP and tax revenues even at the cost of citizens dying from pollution—shows contempt for human life and is, in fact, a crime against the Chinese nation.
During the 2015 Beijing military parade, 360 billion yuan was spent, yet solving the water pollution problem and safeguarding people’s health were never a priority. Little Pink (nationalist youth) may shout about defending the CCP’s rule all day long, but they should ask themselves: in their lifetime, will they ever drink the same water that Xi Jinping drinks?
(First published by People News) △
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