Menchie Mendoza, Tech Times

The river is located at Wenzhou, a popular town in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. The place is bordered on the three sides with mountains while the front faces the Pacific Ocean. Residents are proud of their place particularly with the river which they describe as one of the healthiest and cleanest rivers in their province. This was attributed to the fact that there are no factories found along the river's banks.

Residents claim that prior to the incident, the river thrives in marine life as they can easily catch fish in it. It is so clean that one can even safely drink the water which normally tastes good.

According to the residents, it was the first time that they've seen the river change its color. They noted that they began to notice the change at around six in the morning. Two hours before that, they attested that the river appeared to be flowing normally. Suddenly, it starts to redden and in a matter of minutes, the whole river looked crimson red.

No one can really explain what could have happened to the water. The strange phenomenon soon caught the officials' attention and prompted them to collect some water samples as a way to solve the mystery.

The river's sudden change into a red color is not the first time that it has happened in China. Back in 2012, the Yangtze River also showed a change in color. Several theories have been cited to explain the phenomenon. These would include dye pollution and sand distribution that resulted from upstream flooding. Others were even saying that it was a sign of the upcoming Apocalypse.

The river's blood red color is not the only thing that had bothered the residents. Along with its strange appearance, the river also exudes a funny odor. "Nobody has any idea how it could have ended up being polluted because there are no factories that dump anything in the water here," one resident said.

Environmental experts from the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau analyzed some samples of the water and suspected that the color resulted as a discharge from a die factory. Since there is no factory in the area, one of them said that perhaps someone had driven all the way to the place in order to dump something. The bureau is looking into the possibility that the color of the river may have come from a clothing maker, a food coloring company, and a paper manufacturer which are found along the river. "We are looking further upstream to try and find out where the source was of this pollution," says one of the experts.

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Tags: China Wenzhou Zhejiang Yangtze River Water Pollution
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