Qingdao vows to clear away algae

More than 10,000 local residents are taking great efforts to clean up algae to ensure the coming Olympic sailing competition goes smoothly. The algae is being referred to as hu tai, meaning water-borne lichen. More than 290,000 tons had been cleared away by July 3. The bloom appeared at the beginning of June, in a sudden natural oceanic disaster. The hu tai in Qingdao's waters actually originates from further down the coast near the central area of the Yellow Sea, according to Zhu Mingyuan from the First Institute of Oceanography of China's State Oceanic Administration. At present the local government is blocking algae from floating into the competition zone, cleaning-up the sea and clearing algae away from the shores, with the goal of clearing the competition zone by July 15. Responding to the task the Qingdao government has co-opted more than 10,000 local residents, 1,000 boats and 200 trucks with the mayor of Qingdao, Xia Geng, reaffirming his commitment to take effective action. The floating direction of the green tide is being strictly monitored by various equipment including satellite remote sensing and nautical surveillance. The local government also plans to set up a 32,000-meter sea fence off the sailing competition zone by July 15. "We have been working here five days with an average 14 working hours every day. About 3,200 tons of algae are cleared away each day. We are confident in cleaning up the sea before July 15," Liu Shuntang, deputy director of the cleaning-up campaign at the Statue Street area, one of the most affected areas around the Olympic competition zone. About 109,000 people have volunteered or ordered to participate in the cleaning-up campaign since July 2. Li Fushan, one of the volunteers said, "I really want to play a role in clearing these seaweeds and give a hand to the successful staging of the Olympic sailing competition." "I was once worried about the algae bloom, but now the whole city's joint effort assures me that this natural disaster will not affect the Olympic sailing regatta," Wang Zhongyu, a cab driver told China Daily. The algae have no effect on the water quality or a negative influence on marine ecology of the sea off the Qingdao coast. However, it has affected athletes' training before the Olympic sailing competition and damaged landscapes nearby. Such outbreaks have become a global issue since their appearance off the coasts in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. Nevertheless, environmental protection departments in Qingdao have long been controlling and monitoring urban wastewater treatment plants, pivotal industries and enterprises, and drainage outfalls along the coast. At present, effluent is discharged according to national standards thanks to the installation of wastewater treatment plants and sewage treatment facilities at local enterprises.