User Note: Experts reveal that early symptoms of chronic cadmium poisoning include fatigue, headache and dizziness, nasal mucosa atrophy, coughing, stomach pain, and weight loss. As the condition progresses, patients may experience pain in the lower back and knees, a yellow cadmium ring on their teeth, pain in the bones all over the body, osteoporosis, increased stabbing pain during movement, and even fractures from minor injuries. Some severe cases also present with emphysema, decreased respiratory function, weakened kidney function, kidney stones, proteinuria, liver damage, and anemia.
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Investigation of Heavy Metal Pollution in Shaanxi Shangluo Shahezi Town
2013
In Shangluo, Shaanxi, near the source of the Dan River, which is crucial for the South-North Water Transfer Project, nearly a thousand children were reported to have lead poisoning.
2014
Residents reported that since the establishment of the Shangluo Zinc Smelter (Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd.), it has recklessly discharged a large amount of wastewater and exhaust gas, causing crops to fail, trees to wither, and the air to be filled with an unbearable stench, bringing immense suffering to the people and severe environmental pollution.
2017
Shangluo villagers complained that more than thirty acres of fertile land were occupied by the zinc smelter for wastewater treatment, and the factory continuously emitted black smoke with a strong, pungent odor.
2018
Residents of Shahezi Town in Shangluo reported that the zinc smelter dumped tens of thousands of tons of industrial waste (including sulfuric acid, lead, copper, cadmium, indium, and various chemical elements) near the upstream of the drinking water source for the village, severely contaminating the drinking water for over a thousand people.
2019
Netizens in Shangluo captured footage of the BYD factory area discharging wastewater directly into the Dan River, turning the river channel black.
2020
The Shangluo Power Plant was found to have faked its environmental assessment, burying industrial solid waste directly in a ravine, contaminating the drinking water source for the villagers.
2021
Environmental volunteers revisited the site to find that pollution persists and ecological restoration is still far off.
Why does pollution chaos continue to emerge in Shangluo, and why are these issues perpetually unaddressed? Recent on-site investigations in Shangluo, revisiting the lead-poisoned village, revealed that since the 1990s, Shangluo Zinc Smelter, BYD in Shangluo, and Shangluo Power Plant have rapidly developed with government attention and support, quickly becoming well-known enterprises and major contributors to Shangluo’s economic development. However, being high-pollution industries, they have also caused significant environmental damage and pollution.
Shaanxi Zinc Industry: Nearby crops all exceed cadmium standards, with some vegetables 10 times over the limit, and soil cadmium content up to 171 times the standard
“A study on the soil of vegetable fields in a smelting area (Shaanxi Zinc Industry) using single-factor pollution index, pollution load index, comprehensive pollution index, and potential ecological risk index to evaluate the pollution of heavy metals Zn, Cu, Ni, Mn, Cd. The results showed that the soil of lettuce, coriander, mugwort, small green vegetables, leaf mustard, spinach, green onions, leeks, and garlic sprouts are safe for heavy metals Cu, Ni, Mn, but Cd content is severely exceeded. The soil of small green vegetables, spinach, green onions, leeks, and garlic sprouts exceeded Zn standards, with an exceeding rate of 55.56%. The comprehensive pollution evaluation showed that all nine types of vegetable soils were heavily polluted by heavy metals, with spinach and leeks being moderately polluted, while other vegetable soils met the standards. The potential ecological risk index of heavy metals in the nine types of vegetable soils is 88.89%, indicating moderate to extremely high ecological risks, especially for Cd.”
Shangluo Zinc Smelter (Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd.) is a leading enterprise in the smelting industry and is now a state-owned enterprise controlled by Shaanxi Nonferrous Metals Group. The factory is located at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains, on the banks of the Dan River, within 600 meters of Lingou Village, Luo Village, and several other villages.
From 2013 to the present, many residents of Shangluo have reported that since the construction of
— 2017 Paper"Characteristics of Heavy Metal Pollution in Farmland Soil of a Smelting Area in Shaanxi"The Shangluo Zinc Smelter, it has recklessly discharged a large amount of wastewater and exhaust gas, causing crops to fail, trees to wither, and the air to be filled with an unbearable stench, bringing immense suffering to the people and severe environmental pollution, leading to nearly a thousand children being poisoned by lead in the area.
At that time, the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau established an inspection office to rectify the environmental issues of the Shangluo Zinc Smelter, requiring the enterprise to assess and restore the surrounding environmental conditions, carry out health education, physical monitoring, and prevention and treatment for nearby children, and urge the relocation of the affected residents.
Eight years have passed, and investigators revisiting the lead-poisoned village found that the wastewater from the Shangluo Zinc Smelter is still being discharged into the Dan River through the sewage system. The discharged wastewater is gray and turbid, with a chemical odor.
Water samples were taken for testing, and the results, compared to the “Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard” (GB8978-1996) pollutant maximum allowable concentration second-level standard, showed zinc exceeding the standard by up to 4.4 times; sample number 210601FS003 had a cadmium result of 0.09mg/L, close to the limit standard of 0.1mg/L; sample 210601FS002 had a cadmium result of 0.16, exceeding the standard by 1.6 times.
Residents of Shahezi Town told investigators that the environmental problems of the Shangluo Zinc Smelter have improved in the past two years, and the river is no longer black, “In the previous years, the water in the river was toxic, and the fish and shrimp in the water were extinct.”
Originally, the local government invested significant effort and cost in treating the Dan River in recent years because this river carries the mission of the South-North Water Transfer Project.
Aside from the water, how are the people and plants living here?
Residents of the town told investigators: “There was also a leakage incident at the smelting plant, causing sulfuric acid to leak out, burning many trees’ leaves. That time was very serious, crops like trees and corn within a twenty to thirty-kilometer range all died. The toxic gas leak also caused several deaths, and many people had their throats burned, unable to speak for days.”
So, are the crops here safe? The investigators sampled the soil and crops around the Shangluo Zinc Smelter, and the results are as follows:
Severe Soil Heavy Metal Pollution
Lead and cadmium exceeded the standard, up to 171 times
Soil Sampling and Testing
Investigators collected 8 soil samples from the agricultural land, referring to the “Soil Environmental Quality Risk Control Standard for Soil Pollution of Agricultural Land (Trial)” (GB 15618-2018), all cadmium exceeded the standard, with 5 samples exceeding lead standards.
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Sample number 210601TR001-Shahezi Town yellow-brown soil, lead exceeded the standard by 1.24 times, cadmium by 82.6 times
Sample number 210601TR002-Shahezi Town yellow-brown soil, showed cadmium exceeding the standard by 12.5 times
Sample number 210601TR003-Shahezi Town yellow-brown soil, lead exceeded the standard by 2.79 times, cadmium by 171.6 times
Sample number 210601TR004-Shahezi Town yellow-brown soil, lead exceeded the standard by 1.3 times, cadmium by 160 times
Sample number 210601TR005-Shahezi Town yellow-brown soil, showed cadmium exceeding the standard by 2 times
Severe Vegetable Heavy Metal Pollution
Cadmium exceeded the standard by up to 10 times
（1）Green onions exceeded cadmium standard by 10.8 times
Green onions – sampled near Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. in Libaozi Village, 82 meters straight distance from the factory area, detected cadmium at 0.54mg/kg, standard value 0.05, exceeding the standard by 10.8 times.
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（2）Leaf mustard exceeded cadmium standard by 9.5 times
Leaf mustard – sampled near Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. in Libaozi Village, 90 meters straight distance from the factory area, detected cadmium at 1.9mg/kg, standard value 0.2, exceeding the standard by 9.5 times. Corresponding to its soil test no. 3: lead 149 exceeded the standard by 1.24 times, cadmium by 82.6 times.
（3）Coriander exceeded cadmium standard by 3.9 times
Coriander – sampled near Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. in Libaozi Village, 88 meters straight distance from the factory area, detected cadmium at
0.78mg/kg, standard value 0.2, exceeding the standard by 3.9 times.
（4）Shanghai green exceeded cadmium standard by 1.2 times
Shanghai green – sampled near Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. in Libaozi Village, 84 meters straight distance from the factory area, detected cadmium at 0.24mg/kg, standard value 0.2, exceeding the standard by 1.2 times.
（5）Green Sichuan pepper exceeded cadmium standard by 2 times
Green Sichuan pepper – sampled near Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. in Libaozi Village, 40 meters straight distance from the factory area, detected cadmium at 0.4mg/kg, no standard requirement, using kale’s standard value of 0.2, can be determined to exceed the standard by 2 times.
（6）Rapeseed exceeded cadmium standard by 2 times
Rapeseed – sampled near Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. in Libaozi Village, 73 meters straight distance from the factory area, detected cadmium at 0.46mg/kg, no standard requirement, using kale’s standard value of 0.2, can be determined to exceed the standard by 2 times.
However, random sampling of green walnuts and kale in Lalinzi Village, 200 meters straight distance from the factory area, showed cadmium levels of 0.003mg/kg and 0.096, not exceeding the standard.
The waste storage area inside the zinc factory is not impermeable
Over the years, in the village where thousands of children once had excessive blood lead levels, various crops all exceed heavy metal content standards, with green onions detected to have cadmium levels exceeding the standard by 10.8 times; leaf mustard exceeding by 9.5 times. The relevant departments have not repaired the polluted soil, and the villagers, who have lived here for generations, have no choice but to consume vegetables with cadmium levels exceeding the standard by up to 10 times.
Furthermore, investigators found that the zinc smelter also buried pollutants at the drinking water source of Lingou Village.
Lingou Village is located northwest of Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd., with the village 400 meters away from Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd., currently with a population of over 1600 people. Villagers once complained to the government that Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. dumped tens of thousands of tons of industrial waste (including sulfuric acid, lead, copper, cadmium, indium, and various chemical elements) near the upstream of the village’s drinking water source, 2 kilometers and 2.7 kilometers away (on both sides of the road in the Wohuling Scenic Area), severely contaminating the villagers’ drinking water.
When the government of Shahezi Town investigated, Shaanxi Zinc Industry Co., Ltd. used bulldozers to bury tens of thousands of tons of production waste, simply covering it with soil, leaving the issue unresolved, with the buried waste still on site to this day.
Villagers complained, “The pollutants are too close to our drinking water source, drinking such water every day, we are constantly in fear, worried that we might suffer from serious illnesses or even die one day.”
BYD in Shangluo: Stealthily Discharging Wastewater at Night
Investigators found BYD’s discharge outlet located on the riverbank, surrounded by various weeds. Some villagers planted corn and green onions on the riverbed.
Investigators happened to meet villagers planting vegetables on the riverbed, who revealed that although the government has been strict in the past two years, not allowing enterprises to stealthily discharge, BYD still takes advantage of the night to secretly discharge wastewater, with stealthy discharges discovered this year.
Investigators tested the soil near BYD’s discharge outlet, on the bank of the Dan River, and found the result to be 2.07mg/kg, referring to the “Soil Environmental Quality Agricultural Land Soil Pollution Risk Control Standard (Trial)” (GB 15618-2015), with cadmium exceeding the standard by 3.45 times.
The stealthy discharge of wastewater by enterprises directly affects the safety of residents’ water use. Locals told investigators that villagers usually dig wells near the Dan River for water, consuming well water near the river channel. If the river is polluted, the well water will also be contaminated.
While talking with villagers, investigators noticed a pungent chemical odor from the river water. An old farmer said, “We live in villages near the river channel, and this pungent odor often sneaks through doors and windows, hard to withstand.”
On that day, we checked the online monitoring data produced by BYD, which showed all data to be normal, without any heavy metal exceeding the standard.
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Villagers complained about BYD’s stealthy discharge, saying the pungent odor often sneaks into homes, with no escape.
Investigators interviewed several BYD employees, who stated that the factory is currently in a precarious situation, with the company laying off a large number of employees, some of whom are on paid leave, waiting to be called back to work at any time. Perhaps due to not operating much, the online monitoring data is normal.
However, a veteran employee who has worked at BYD for over a decade revealed to investigators that pollution within the factory area is still severe, and positions with severe pollution need to be rotated every one or two years.
Shangluo Power Plant: Noise Louder Than Firecrackers, Non-stop 24 Hours a Day
The power plant generates a large amount of industrial solid waste and continuous noise, making the disposal of solid waste and the noise nuisance two major challenges.
Investigators visited the Shangluo Power Plant and found that its environmental assessment was falsified. In the environmental assessment report submitted by the Shangluo Power Plant, it stated that the ash storage site of the Shangluo Power Plant was located about 3.5km southwest of the plant site, in Liaoyu Gully, meeting the ash, slag, and desulfurization gypsum requirements for 3 years of coal types. However, investigators found the ash storage site north of the plant site, in a ravine called Baiwa, only 1.583 meters in a straight line from the Dan River.
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➤Excerpt from the Environmental Assessment Report
This means that if the Shangluo Power Plant does not implement the industrial solid waste pollution prevention measures required by the environmental assessment, it will pose a great safety hazard to the surface water environment.
What actually troubles the villagers more is the noise problem caused by the Shangluo Power Plant.
As investigators approached the plant area, they were greeted by a continuous buzzing sound.
“It’s deafening.” Uncle Li, a villager, was emotional, “The air here has changed from before, and the noise is incessant, day and night. We have no choice. Previously, villagers opposed the construction of the power plant or complained about the noise, but they were handcuffed and taken away. It’s too dark.”
Investigators reviewed the related environmental assessment report, which showed that the main noise sources of the Shangluo Power Plant project include steam turbines, generators, induced draft fans, primary air fans, forced draft fans, coal mills, desulfurization fans, compressors, water pumps, and boiler exhaust, with noise levels generally between 70~100dB(A).
Around the Shangluo Power Plant, within a 200m radius, are distributed villages such as Maliangzi Village, Dugou Village, Dugou Primary School, and Shiyuanzi Village. Investigators went to Zhang Village within 200 meters for on-site testing and found that the maximum nighttime noise was 76, not meeting the “Environmental Noise Standards” (GB3096-2008) class 2 standards. This noise level is considered very noisy and can damage nerve cells.
Uncle Zhang from Zhang Village told investigators, “This sound repeats 24 hours a day, non-stop, and the noise becomes even louder during the midnight exhaust discharge, ‘kuo ci, kuoqi, kuoqi.'” Uncle Zhang imitated the exhaust sound, saying it was louder than the sound of firecrackers.
At Uncle Zhang’s house, investigators also heard an unending whirring sound.
While the power plant and other enterprises bring minimal benefits to the villagers, they also infringe on the villagers’ living environment, severely polluting water sources, causing noise, and bringing various heavy metal pollutions, which is not worth the cost. Villagers hope that the pollution chaos in Shangluo can attract attention and be properly addressed.
Later, we visited Zhang Village, 200 meters away from the plant area, at Uncle Zhang’s house. He told us that the sound repeats 24 hours a day, non-stop, and the noise is especially loud during midnight exhaust discharge: “kuo ci.” Uncle Zhang vividly imitated the exhaust sound, louder than the sound of firecrackers. The local farmers sold their land to the local government for 76,000 yuan per mu due to helplessness, and after adding urea, the ash left from the power generation.
Fun Fact –
There lives a kind of jumping mouse (probably a squirrel) here. We all suspect these jumping mice came here by train, and since then, they have become a plague, eating walnuts everywhere.
Follow-up:
After the heavy metal pollution incident in Shaanxi Shahezi Town was exposed.
Polluting enterprises urgently requested a meeting
For “public welfare cooperation”
After being refused
Threatened “If you continue to post and spread rumors to smear the enterprise
We will pursue legal responsibility”
(Communication with the polluting enterprises)
On October 8, we released “Investigation of Heavy Metal Pollution Incident in Shaanxi Shahezi Town,” and on October 9, Shaanxi Zinc Industry approached us, strongly requesting a meeting and proposing “public welfare cooperation,” which we refused to meet and “cooperate.” On October 10, Shaanxi Zinc Industry stated, “If you continue to post and spread rumors to smear the enterprise, we will pursue legal responsibility.”
After the heavy metal pollution incident in Shahezi Town was exposed, local villagers commented:
“The children who had excessive lead levels back then were given some inspection fees to keep quiet, and it was left unresolved. We live less than 400 meters from the smelting plant, and now the persimmons and walnuts on the trees hardly bear fruit, and many have fallen early. Sigh.”
“We no longer live inside the house; we dare not drink the water. We basically use bottled water for eating, and the leaves of vegetables in the field are all covered with black substances polluted by the zinc smelting plant. If you park your car outdoors, you will see a layer of black powder on it the next day. Complaining and reporting are useless.”
“The ore dressing plant in Lingou Village of Shahezi Town is seriously polluted, with industrial wastewater discharged into the river, causing no biological life in the river.”
“Several people in Yantouzi have cancer, and some have already passed away.”
……
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Local scenery:
