A VEGETABLE field in Minzhi Subdistrict, Bao an District, has been watering crops with water from a polluted river nearby, a resident reported Monday.
The field, occupying about 10,000 square meters near Hengling Industrial Zone on Minzhi Boulevard, was equipped with watering system whose water was pumped from the polluted river located to the east of the field, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.
And vegetables from the field, which is the only large vegetable field left in the urban area, supplied residents in Minzhi Subdistrict.
A farmer harvesting vegetables in the field told the Daily reporter the field had been contracted to private farmers.
I rented my plot for 900 yuan (US$138) each year, half of the market price, she said.
And she said they used water form both the well and the river for the vegetable growing.
The water running in the polluted river is black and stinking with waste floating on it, the paper said.
The vegetables watered by the industrial waste water would have contained excessive heavy metals, which could damage kidneys, liver and lungs, said an unidentified official with the city s disease prevention center.
Many farmers land is becoming less suitable for growing foods as the city develops, said Dan Kun, director of the city s food inspection center, and the land can be used for other purposes, moving the vegetable growing to more rural areas.
But officers with the food inspection and quarantine authority in Minzhi said they hadn t found evidence of watering the field with polluted water. (Tina Chen)
