Chapter 2 deadly river

deadly river (1) Zhaiwan Village is a village surrounded by sewage in Xiangyang District, Xiangfan City, Hubei Province. The polluted Heishui River that flows through this village has a beautiful name——White River. In the past 10 years, the sewage of the Baihe River has continuously invaded the land, and the panic of cancer has continuously invaded the villagers.The incidence of cancer here is as high as 40/10,000, which is 80 times the national average. Zhaiwan Village is the northernmost village in Xiangyang District, Xiangfan City, Hubei Province. The word "Zhai" represents the largest surname in the village, and the word "Wan" refers to the Baihe River flowing around the village from north to south. It has been the main source of water for people's production and life since ancient times.But in the past 10 years, the increasing incidence of cancer and the increasingly black and smelly river water have made people here full of fear for the Baihe River.Today, in this village of more than 3,000 people, there are only a few cancer patients who are still alive, and the young people who can go out have all gone out to work, leaving behind many abandoned houses. In the past 5 years, more than 100 villagers have died of cancer.Most villagers find that they have health problems, and when they go to the hospital for an examination, they are often already at the advanced stage of cancer.Villager Zhai Yuchun spent more than 200,000 yuan on the treatment of liver cancer. When he was interviewed, he had just returned from chemotherapy at the Cancer Hospital in Wuhan.

Zimo: When did you know you had cancer? Zhai Yuchun: In July 2005, I went to the hospital for an examination and found that it was liver cancer.How can I get a doctor if I have this disease, I am afraid of this, the hospital said it was cancer, so accurate, all people in our village have cancer.I used to think that if I had cancer, I would not be able to live. I used to think that this kind of disease was not good.Now that the technology is advanced, it has been almost 9 months since I had the operation. Zimo: How did the doctor introduce the operation to you? Zhai Yuchun: The doctor asked me, did you have an injection or an operation?I thought, this disease is not good. Anyway, if it is dead, it will be surgically removed. You can cut it as you like.

Zimo: How much did it cost to see a doctor? Zhai Yuchun: 67,000 yuan will be handed over to the hospital on the day of the operation alone.If you don’t pay, they won’t operate on you.Other chemotherapy costs 110,000 yuan, and one chemotherapy session costs more than 12,000 yuan, once a month for 10 to 12 days. Zimo: Is chemotherapy still going on now? Zhai Yuchun: Continue, without chemotherapy, the disease will not be cured.Once, Zhai Yuchun's family was considered a wealthy family in the village.But in order to pay back the money for medical treatment, even Zhai Yuchun's old father's house has been sold to others at a low price.Zhai Yuchun's wife said that their husband and wife, father-in-law, and a nephew live together.In the three small rooms, the kitchen is on the left, the old father and a nephew live in the hall in the middle, and Zhai Yuchun and his wife live in the small room on the right.Their three children go to school and work outside, and they can only live with relatives when they come back.Zhai Yuchun's wife: The doctor said it was liver cancer, and said there was still a little hope. If there is money, there is hope. If there is no money, there is no hope.Others say that the disease is not good and cannot be cured.The three children cried when they came back, saying Mom, you can borrow it or sell it, and we work to earn money to pay back to others. Anyway, we must save my dad and see a doctor for my dad.

Zimo: Besides selling the house, can't you think of any other way? Zhai Yuchun's wife: I don't have money, so I won't show it when I go to the hospital.Each time, it takes more than half a month to collect 10,000 yuan for chemotherapy.Whoever's money is left in the house, borrow it when they go, and don't dare to borrow more. Some lend you three to five hundred, and some lend you three to five thousand, just borrow like this. Zimo: Besides chemotherapy, what about other medical expenses? Zhai Yuchun's wife: After chemotherapy, she came back to take medicine, and she had to pay more than 1,000 yuan a month for medicine.In Zhaiwan Village, families in debt due to cancer abound.Of Zhai Yuchun's three children, the eldest daughter earns more than 1,000 yuan a month by working part-time, which is just enough for his medical expenses. The eldest son is preparing to retire from the army and go home to take care of him. The youngest daughter took a year off from school last year and is planning to participate in the college entrance examination.And the 1,000 yuan that the wife earns from doing business every month is also spent on the life of the family.Zhai Yuchun said that he could only wait for the children to repay the debt of more than 100,000 yuan.Although he made his next generation in debt, Zhai Yuchun still feels lucky for his successful liver cancer surgery.His family lives in the second group of Zhaiwan Village, which is closer to Baihe. His neighbor Zhai Aizhi's mother, Wang Fenger, died of colon cancer recently.Zimo: Do ​​people living by the river suffer from cancer?

Zhai Aizhi: Yes, they are all dead.If you get it, you die, and you died a few years ago.There are only a dozen of us in the second team.Lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer...there are so many cancers that I can't tell how they got it. Zimo: When did mother leave? Zhai Aizhi: The sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Zimo: What was it like before you left? Zhai Aizhi: In the end, she was in terrific pain, screaming in pain, and we could only stand by and cry. Zimo: Are there many people around you who have cancer? Zhai Aizhi: Around?There are many.Sister Zhai Aizhi also owed a debt of 20,000 yuan in order to see a doctor for her mother.They have only one brother, but they are born with mental retardation.Now, in order to repay the debt, the youngest sister also goes out to work to earn money.Apart from her mother, Zhai Aizhi and her husband were also in poor health for a long time.Despite their worries, they could no longer afford to go to the hospital for treatment.Like other villagers, Zhai Aizhi believes that the polluted water of the Baihe River is the main cause of their illness.Zhai Aizhi: In our village, many young people, even teenagers, suffer from cancer.Middle-aged people like our age are often sick.You see, the medicine bottles in my house are the same as opening a pharmacy. The child's father has had a bad stomach and intestines since June last year.When I went back for an examination, I found gastric congestion. The doctor said that no matter how serious it was, it was gastric perforation.

Zimo: How do you know that poor health is related to water? Zhai Aizhi: There is no such disease in other places.The river water used to be clear and bright. When I was working in the brigade, I drank the water from the river when I was thirsty, but now the river water stinks. Zimo: Do ​​nearby villages where the Baihe River flows also have such a high incidence? Zhai Aizhi: Anyway, I think this phenomenon occurs as long as the river is close to the river. In April 2005, the Health Bureau of Xiangyang District conducted a survey on the death of villagers in Zhaiwan Village. Taking the third group of Zhaiwan Village as an example, there were 36 deaths in 10 years, and cancer accounted for 69.44% of all deaths. Vascular disease accounted for 22.22%.And cancer cases are all digestive tract cancer and respiratory tract cancer, accounting for 69.23% and 30.77% respectively.Unless there is obvious discomfort in the body, no one will take the initiative to go to the hospital for a physical examination.Even if cancer was detected, some villagers were unwilling to publicize it.However, as the number of deaths continued to increase, the villagers of Zhaiwan Village had to seek help from the outside world.Zimo: How many cancer patients have appeared in the village over the years?

Zhai Jinhan (Village Committee Director): At present, according to the statistics of serious illness relief, there are nearly 150 people.Villagers who had this disease before were reluctant to tell, especially some young adults who were not yet married, for fear that they would not be able to be called daughter-in-laws if they found out.Now, as long as patients show their cancer medical records, the district civil affairs department will give them serious illness relief. In 2005, the civil affairs department gave each cancer patient a subsidy of 3,000 yuan, so many people took out their medical records all of a sudden.

Zimo: What kind of cancer do most people get? Zhai Jinhan: There are many cancers, such as esophageal cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, blood cancer, brain cancer, cardia cancer, etc. Women will have breast cancer. These are recorded in the medical records and reported by the hospital. Zimo: There are so many cancer families in the village, which family made you feel particularly sad? Zhai Jinhan: There is a mother, Xiaoxi, whose father is gone. The couple, a child and the old mother have four people.Mother Xiaoxi got liver cancer when she was just 30 years old. She had no money to see a doctor. When she was in pain, she could only put her head against the wall and pinch her waist. Her whole body was soaked, and sometimes she would die of pain.His daughter-in-law is only in her 20s, and her baby is only 3 years old, what a tragedy!Seeing the situation of this family, our village group cadres were very sad.

Zimo: Are there many such families? Zhai Jinhan: There are quite a few, especially the fourth team.It is a custom in our countryside that when one of the couple dies, the family with the remaining one is called a "half-side household". There are too many half-side households in the fourth team.The second, third, and fourth teams all had a lot of cancer patients, while the first and fifth teams were relatively less. Zimo: Why are the first and fifth teams less, but the second, third, and fourth teams are more? Zhai Jinhan: The first and fifth teams are far away from Baihe, while the second, third and fourth teams are close to Baihe, all of which are on the edge of Baihe.Due to the far distance from Baihe, the average annual population death rate of Zhaiwan Village Group 1 was 4.42‰ in the past three years, and that of Group 5 was 5.56‰, while the average annual population death rate of Group 2, Group 3, and Group 4, which were closer to Baihe, reached 7.69‰.The average annual death rate of the whole village is also much higher than that in the early 1990s.Villagers are increasingly afraid of the river water.In recent years, Zhai Jinhan, director of the village committee, and Zhai Zhanhong, secretary of the village party committee, have actively worked to change the living environment of the villagers.Zimo: The pollution of the river is so serious, what inconvenience has it brought to your life?

Zhai Zhanhong: The rice here always matures half a month later than other places, the quality is not good, and the yield is also declining.We use the water from the river to irrigate the rice fields, and it was only in 2006 that we basically stopped using the water from the river.The last time experts from the province came over and found that our rice fields were watered with water from the river, and there was a thick layer of black skin on the fields. They took it for testing, and we don’t know the results of the testing. Anyway, it’s basically 90% since the beginning of this year. Plant dry land.

deadly river (2) Zimo: Has food production been affected? Zhai Zhanhong: In the past, the yield per mu was about 1,200 catties, but now it is good to produce more than 800 catties per mu, and the production has indeed been reduced. Zimo: With such land, such water, can the quality of the grain and vegetables grown be guaranteed? Zhai Zhanhong: We reported to the higher authorities, and the higher authorities told us to plant less rice, try not to use this water, and gradually change it.So this year we basically don't grow rice, but the animal husbandry and fishery in the village are also affected.In the past, grass grew on the river beach. When the grass grew the highest, the water rose to cover the grass. Later, the grass stopped growing.In the past, sheep and cattle were herded on the beach, but now the cattle and sheep are put by the river, and they dare not drink the river water when they are thirsty, and some of them can drink to death. Zimo: How to solve the problem of drinking water for these livestock in the village? Zhai Zhanhong: There are fewer people raising livestock now. The second, third, and fourth groups rarely raise cattle and sheep. There are not even ten cows in one group. Zimo: Why don't you keep it? Zhai Zhanhong: There is no place to put it.It used to be raised on the river beach, but now there is no grass growing on the river beach, and the arable land is tight, and there is no place to graze. Zimo: How do people who used to fish live now? Zhai Zhanhong: All the fishermen have gone out to work.No one caught fish in the river.There are no more fish, so why catch any fish? In this village, where the arable land per capita is less than one mu, the food is basically self-sufficient.What worries the villagers is that batches of experts have come here to inspect and investigate, but no one can tell them with certainty whether eating the grain in the field, poultry, and livestock at home will cause them to get cancer.The fact that many people in a family suffer from cancer makes the family members of cancer patients even more uneasy.The grandfather, grandmother, and uncle of Zhai Jinhan, director of the village committee, all died of cancer, and the father, mother, and uncle of Zhai Zhanhong, the village party secretary, also died of cancer.Zhai Zhanhong: Both my mother and father had esophageal cancer, and my uncle also had cancer. Zimo: Seeing people in your family get sick, how do you feel? Zhai Zhanhong: I can’t mention it. Tears flow out when I mention it. I’ve seen too many heart-wrenching things.When you go to the homes of those who are sick, the tears are really pouring down. After spending all the money, people still have to die. Zimo: Are you worried about your body? Zhai Zhanhong: Worrying is useless.This disease does not mean that it is enough to check in advance and prevent it in advance.It is okay to treat it early if it is found out, but it is not easy to treat it at a late stage.The reporter saw a thermos bottle in the home of villager Feng Zhaohui. The water poured from the thermos bottle was cloudy.Feng Zhaohui said that the water was like this every day, and there was a lot of white residue in it, and the water used for drinking had to settle for a few days before I dared to use it.Feng Zhaohui believes that his colon perforation is due to long-term use of such water.His wife also suffers from enteritis, and his daughter-in-law suffers from nephritis. The whole family spent several years of savings on medical treatment last year.In the village, Feng Chaohui's family was considered to be in good condition. He went to the city to work and saved some money a few years ago, and installed a tin bucket for sedimentation water on the roof of his house.Now due to the well-known water pollution, there are many people in the village who put iron barrels in, and there are even manufacturers specializing in the production of such barrels.At the bottom of each bucket of sedimentation water, there is a thick layer of black sediment.Zimo: What is the pollution source of Baihe River? Zhai Zhanhong: It is a paper mill in Henan, and the domestic sewage in Henan is discharged into the river. Zimo: Why did you say with certainty that it was caused by upstream pollution? Zhai Zhanhong: Once the paper mill releases water, there will be foam in the river. It would be better if the water is not released.If it is not released for a month, the fish fry in the river will all rise.Now there is nothing in the river, Sanguang, no fish, no shrimp, and no frogs from the past.According to the water quality monitoring by the Environmental Protection Bureau of Xiangyang District, Xiangfan City, the water of Baihe River has been in the fifth category for a long time, and it has completely lost its usability.However, the manganese content in the shallow groundwater in Zhaiwan Village exceeds the standard, and it contains carcinogens such as chromium, benzene, and toluene.It is understood that since 2004, the upper reaches of the Baihe River have shut down dozens of polluting enterprises that did not meet the standards. In the second half of 2005, the State Environmental Protection Administration sent officials to investigate, and some small paper mills in the upper reaches of the river were shut down.Zimo: In the second half of 2005, many small paper mills in the upstream area closed down. Has the river cleared up? Zhai Zhanhong: They are not closed, but slightly stronger than before.The river water used to be black and smelly, but now the water looks okay during the day, but at night they started to discharge the sewage again, and the water was full of white foam. Zimo: It is clearly stated that 32 small paper mills that did not meet the standards have been closed upstream, so why do you still see sewage? Zhai Zhanhong: We live by the river, so we can see it every day. Zimo: So how should we explain that the upstream region government told the media that many factories have been closed? Zhai Zhanhong: I don't know, I'm just a commoner. Reporter: How do you know they discharge sewage at night? Boatman: I often stay on the boat, and I know this best.It is mainly the sewage released by the Henan Paper Mill. It starts to be discharged at about 10 o'clock in the evening. There are white things floating in it, and the water is black at first glance.The whole surface of the water is smelly and smoky. Whenever I smell the smell of water, my brain hurts. Recently, I plan to go to Xiangfan to have a brain CT scan.The boss of the boat stayed on the river 20 hours a day, went back and forth on the river all day, witnessed the changes in Baihe every day, and was worried about his body.He said that if you saw black bumps in the water, you would feel sick to throw up.Looking carefully at the water surface from the boat, you can see that the soy sauce-colored river water is densely covered with white pulp, and flocculent pulp is also hanging on the steel wire rope used by the boat boss to pull the boat.Upstream paper mills produce toilet paper. Over the years, in order to drink unpolluted water, the villagers have repeatedly appealed to the local government, the upstream government, the media and environmental protection organizations.Faced with the repeated closures of small paper mills upstream, the local government of Xiangyang District, where Zhaiwan Village is located, also seemed somewhat helpless.They had to spend 1.17 million to build a 120-meter deep well in Zhaiwan Village to solve the urgent need for drinking water for the villagers.Zimo: Why did you dig such a deep well? Director of the Water Conservancy Bureau: During the field survey, we found that there is a water layer at a depth of more than ten meters in Zhaiwan Village, but the soil quality of that layer has also been polluted.Due to the long-term pollution of the Baihe River, the soil has turned black, and the water in that layer contains some carcinogenic substances. Zimo: Will the maintenance of the entire water plant and deep wells cost in the future? Director of Water Conservancy: Fees are required.The water plant is currently designed to supply 255 tons of water per day. After expansion, it can be expanded to 1,000 tons of water per day. It can radiate to surrounding villages and groups, and the production cost can also be reduced.According to the budget, each cubic meter of water is generally about 90 cents, not more than one yuan. Zimo’s Comments: Although we have seen that the deep water wells built at the “Shenzhen speed” have solved the urgent needs of Zhaiwan Village, we cannot help but wonder how many villages such a polluted Baihe River will flow through. How many rivers are polluted like the Baihe River, and how many villages like Zhaiwan Village are affected by sewage? According to a survey by the State Environmental Protection Administration, since the Songhua River was polluted at the end of 2005, there have been more than 140 water pollution incidents in China, which means that there will be one every two or three days on average.In addition, according to the Xinhua News Agency "Wang Zhoukan" report, about 400 million urban residents in China do not have access to fresh air, and among the 20 most polluted cities in the world, China accounts for 16.It can be said that the environmental pollution problem that once plagued Western industrialized countries seemed to come to the Chinese people overnight and became one of the most concerned topics for the Chinese people. I think, in the face of nature, each of us is very humble.The environment is polluted, each of us should bravely take responsibility.Whether it is an individual or a collective, we should really change our minds, not just take environmental protection as a slogan, but a deep memory, and start from what we can do to protect the deteriorating environment.