16,000 Dead Pigs In The Huangpu: Can You Still Drink Shanghai's Water?
E. coli Micrograph Escherichia coli contamination is one potential danger of the thousands of pig carcasses that farmers have dumped into the Huangpu River in China. Officials say their tests show the water is still safe for drinking after treatment, however. The U.S. Agricultural Research Service on Wikimedia CommonsSince the beginning of the month, officials have fished out 16,000 pig carcasses found in the river that serves tap water to Shanghai. Is it really still safe to drink, as officials say? Chinese officials have fished more than 16,000 pig carcasses from the Huangpu River, from which more than one in five Shanghai residents draw their drinking water. Remember when it was just 2,000 pigs and that seemed pretty crazy? Meanwhile, officials keep saying that the water is still safe to drink. How likely is that, really? Pig carcasses dumped in water could release pathogenic bacteria into the water. Even healthy pigs carry...