On the evening of August 9th, a large amount of white foam was spotted floating in the Bai Tabao River in the Hunnan District of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, sparking widespread concern among residents.
Local residents shared videos on social media showing the foam spreading over tens of meters on the river surface, with foam patches of varying sizes drifting slowly with the flow of water and emitting an odor. In the comments section, many netizens speculated that it could be industrial wastewater.
According to a report from the Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, on the evening of August 9th, a significant amount of foam appeared in the Bai Tabao River tributary, the Baizhi Drainage Canal. Investigation data revealed that the anionic surfactant (a characteristic indicator of detergent products) in the Bai Tabao River tributary exceeded the standard by 0.38 times.
The reason for the foam appeared to be linked to a local daily detergent manufacturer situated by the riverbank upstream, where raw materials for hand wash production (with foaming properties) were carelessly stored on the river side of the factory. Due to poor storage practices, these materials entered the river and created a large amount of foam after being stirred up by the “waterfall dam”.
Currently, the involved company is under investigation.
This incident has sparked discussions among netizens, who believe that poor management by the company led to the flow of detergent raw materials into the river, also exposing potential flaws in environmental supervision at the local level.
“Why would this company store easily polluting materials so close to the river? How is environmental inspection carried out regularly? Why was this hidden danger not discovered earlier?”
Residents are particularly concerned about water quality safety due to the appearance of large amounts of white foam in the river.