Currently there is a major restoration project underway in a major Shanghai waterway, Suzhou Creek, and as part of this, the city has embarked upon a major push to clean up it canals and waterways. As an example of this, it was reported on a number of
websites earlier this month that the Suzhou River Management Authority commissioned a large fleet of electric boats specifically designed to scoop up rubbish floating in the water.
Suzhou Creek has had major problems with algal blooms in the past, so you would have to assume that the water clean-up effort would surely also include some sort of water treatment program. But is there any evidence that Phoslock, the product or the company, are involved in this effort?.
Having investigated this topic some more, it would seem that the algae problems at Suzhou Creek largely have their origins in a large lake to the west, Lake Taihu (sometimes alternatively spelt Lake Tai). The problems at lake Taihu have been referred to in past posts here.
Lake Taihu is the third largest freshwater lake in China. I've included a shot from a map of it below, as well as a comparable shot of Lake Pampulha in Brazil (on approximately the same scale), to give an indication of the size of this lake.
In May last year, Business Insider reported that lake Taihu had turned completely green, after experiencing a burst of algae growth. (The
website includes a short slideshow on the topic.)
Unsurprisingly, the situation at the lake has attracted the attention of the authorities, and according to a Xinhua
report earlier this year (which included a series of interesting shots of the lake), a 'River Chief' was appointed to deal with the situation at the Taihu Lake basin by the end of 2017.
It seems logical that PWS would be in some way involved in the efforts to tackle the problems at lake Taihu, but I am just speculating here.
So is there any evidence linking Phoslock to the major project that seems to be underway at lake Taihu?. Possibly.
About this time last year, there was an
article on a website called Algae World News looking at the aforementioned problems of algae blooms at Lake Taihu. I've included the relevant extract below:
New technologies are helping the famous landmark in East China to recover from years of severe pollution.
For generations, poets used the term bishui, or “emerald water”, to describe Lake Taihu, China’s third-largest freshwater body, famed for its scenery and clear water that reflected the surrounding green hills.
The lake, which straddles the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in East China, is a cradle of fisheries and tourism. It is also the water source for industries and cities, from Wuxi in Jiangsu to Shanghai, nurturing more than 44 million people.
As nearby cities flourished during the past three decades, industrial effluent and waste from human activities ravaged the lake. A buildup of nutrients, often caused by fertilizers leaking into the water, resulted in eutrophication, a process that occurs when blue-green algae blooms and strips the oxygen from the water, causing it to stagnate and become putrid, tea-green sludge.
“It’s a terrible eyesore,” said Shen Ji, director of the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. According to Ji, China has about 920 freshwater lakes, most of them located along the middle and lower stretches of the Yangtze River, and more than 85 percent have been affected by algae pollution.
Now, the academy’s scientists are trying to turn the tide via new technology: from bionic platforms that “eat” algae, to a giant razor that “shaves” the sediment, and a powder that turns algae into stone...
Note that mention in the last paragraph of 'a powder that turns algae into stone': that would have to be a reference to Phoslock, surely?.
So, there may be some reason to think the PWS might be involved in the campaign to clean up Lake Taihu that seems to be underway currently.
(20min delay)