On August 27th, the blogger “Fish and Hunt Brother” released a video revealing that a river over ten kilometers long in Yunmeng County, Xiaogan, Hubei Province, was severely polluted, affecting the lives of nearby farmers and the water used for agricultural irrigation.
In the video, “Fish and Hunt Brother” stated that he recently received a plea for help from a fan in Hubei, who said that the water of a river in their hometown was very black and unusable for agricultural irrigation. The nearby residents had to rely on well water for irrigation; even worse, the polluted water flowed into the school, emitting a strong odor. With the new school year approaching, parents were worried about their children’s health.
Upon investigation, “Fish and Hunt Brother” found that the actual pollution of the river was much worse than he had imagined. The water was not only “super duper black” but also emitted a pungent chemical smell. What’s more concerning is that the downstream of this river leads to a vast agricultural irrigation area.
Local residents told “Fish and Hunt Brother” that the cause of the river pollution was wastewater from nearby factories, persisting for over a decade. Previous attempts to address the issue had not led to any resolution.
One resident expressed, “Anything watered with that water dies. All the Bodhi trees planted before have died, and now we can only rely on pumped water for irrigation.”
The video showed a piece of farmland where all crops had died due to irrigation with water from the river.
After the video was exposed, it sparked widespread attention online.
Many local netizens commented, “There are factories along the river, which are inevitably related to these factories. If not exposed, nothing will be done, and the problem will be ignored.” “The smell is unbearable day and night. Those living by the river dare not open their windows!” “Every time I drive back to my hometown, in the Xiaogan area, there is a strong smell of chemicals.”
On the day of the incident, “Fish and Hunt Brother” mentioned in an interview with “The New Jingbao” that the river is located in Yunmeng County, separated by the Putan Town, and flows from the county town to Putan Town, eventually merging into Fuhu River. According to his estimation, the polluted river segment spans over ten kilometers.
In response, the staff of the Yunmeng County Propaganda Department stated that the polluted river is the Xidaqu River and a special team has been formed to investigate and verify the situation.