Water is Dirty Now

This article is from a student at Tenzer Learning Center in New York, NY. Tenzer participated in a series of visits with Pulitzer Center journalists leading up the High School News Literacy Summit at Baruch College in Manhattan.

Water, we need it. My mother, her name is Sai Lan Jiang. She is 52 years old and she is a housewife. She told me when she was young, there was a beautiful and clean river called the MingJiang in Fu Jiang, China. But as time passed, it became so dirty. Nobody helped clean it until now.

The river has a long history. She said when she was a kid, she always washed clothes with her mother. At the river, sometimes she could see the fish. In the summer, people went to swim in the river. They played so happily.

When she grew up, she needed to do some housework. So she needed to fetch water over 200 meters away in the well and she needed to take the wash-water to water the flowers. She also used well water for drinking and cooking.

Now, she says, we just turn on the tap and the water is coming. We don't need to use it a second time. Nobody is swimming in the river. The water became dirtier than before. It's so bad, but the government still doesn't clean the river. Industrialization and garbage is the biggest issue. Who can help it? I think it needs everyone's protection.

We need to save water. This is really sad. When the river becomes black, they think it's a garbage dump. We can and we must save more water. Protect the environment now. Reach out your hands. Clean and protect the water.