Clean-up continues as algae shrinks in Olympic water
8/7/2008 17:17
Troops, fishermen and volunteers continued to clean up the seawater at the
Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao today as the density of the green weed shrank
to 1.37 percent from 32 percent over the past 10 days.
As of yesterday
afternoon, the coverage of algae in the 49.48-square-kilometer Olympic sailing
venue was reduced to 0.679 square kilometers, according to the North China Sea
Branch of the State Oceanic Administration.
Ten days ago, on June 28, 15.86
sq km of the guarded sea area was covered by algae.
"As the algae bloom has
subsided, most cleaners are still 'searching' for algae," said Wang Yiqiu, an
official with the Qingdao oceanic and fishery bureau.
In the past two weeks,
more than 130,000 soldiers and volunteers worked furiously at the site, removing
more than 50 tonnes of algae from the water.
Wang himself works at least 10
hours a day, patrolling on the beach and shouting into his walkie-talkie to
despatch some 500 fishing boats within his jurisdiction to clean up newly
detected algae bloom in the Olympic waters.
Altogether 2,085 vessels were at
work yesterday, searching and removing algae. Fishermen who had been seasonally
laid off by the summer fishing ban were now to be paid by the government for
their new job, said Wang.
"Most of these vessels will be standing by
throughout the sailing event for potential algae blooms during the Games," he
said.
The sailing competitions are scheduled for August 9-23.
Today,
workers are set to complete a 32,000-meter enclosure in the sea to keep algae
out of the venue. About half of the enclosure was completed as of midday
yesterday.
The Qingdao government has vowed to clear up the sailing event
venue before July 15.
VOLUNTEERS AT WORK
Zhao Shumei, 81, is probably the
oldest algae-cleaning volunteer in Qingdao.
For a week, she has taken a bus
to the No. 3 seaside bathing site in downtown Qingdao early in the morning and
has put together pieces of algae washed onto the beach with a harrow so that
other cleaners may easily collect them.
The hunchbacked old woman could
certainly not work as fast as the young, and she was almost always drenched to
the skin. "I'm just doing as much as I can. Together, we'll clean it all up,"
she said.
Shortly after their final test at school, Li Yanran, 15 and her
cousin Ge Xuanxi, 7, joined the algae removing campaign. They collected algae
from the sea and put it into plastic bags, which they emptied on the beach for
other volunteers to take away. In the busiest days they worked from morning
until late in the afternoon, bringing lunchboxes and bottled water.
Many
Qingdao citizens voluntarily joined the cleaning campaign, bringing tools
ranging from shoulder poles to spades and harrows to improve
efficiency.
"What we can do is very limited," said Yuan Chengben, a
58-year-old worker. "But as citizens of Qingdao we're fulfilling our
obligations."
Yuan and his wife brought a self-made shoulder pole, with which
they carried baskets of algae to the beach.
TRAINING CONTINUES
Today, 308
athletes and coaches from 29 countries and regions were preparing for the Games
in Qingdao.
"It's fine," said Michael John from the Australian team. He said
his team didn't have to deliberately avoid contact with the seawater and the
training went well.
Zhao Jian, a press officer with the Qingdao Olympic
Sailing Committee, said the committee had not received any complaints over water
quality.
By yesterday, the clinic at the training base for the Olympic
sailing event had not received any reports of skin or stomach irritations.
To
prevent stomach irritations and allergies in the city known for its beer and
seafood, the Qingdao health authority has handed out manuals on food safety,
with health tips for the athletes and coaches.
Croatian sailor Marin Lovrovic
agreed the algae in the water had been reduced greatly, saying "We'll
concentrate on the training and hope you'll all watch our
performances."
Xinhua
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