Water and My Village

When I was a little kid, there were about five or six water wells in my village in Northeast China. They were stoned-lined, deep and clear. In winter, the platforms were icy and dangerous, however.

Adults drew water using a windlass or pulling a rope by hand, then shouldered buckets of water home. The wells were far from most the homes. Every family had a big earthen water pot.

When cement became affordable, my father built concrete well lining tubes and dug a water-well in our front yard with his friends. Water could be drawn right from the front yard, and our life was so convenient that water was not an issue any more for cooking, washing, and gardening. Then other villagers followed suit.

When electric submersible pumps became available, water could be drawn from the well in the front yard by closing an electric switch. Technical advance is great.

A couple of years ago, a dyeing plant was established just outside the village. Most of the wells gradually became empty of groundwater. Villagers had to dig deep wells, and well-drilling was once a good business for some time there. However, even the groundwater they could get has been polluted.

I heard that the owner of the dyeing plant has become a multi-millionaire, and some people are relying on bottled water for cooking and drinking.

What will the local government say? GDP?

所有跟帖： 

• 好文。一聲歎息。 -beautifulwind- ♀ (0 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 10:32:42

• Thank you. -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/11/2011 postreply 19:04:04

• Yes, GDP: Gross Domestic Pollution -selfselfself- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 11:03:31

• An interesting comment. -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/11/2011 postreply 19:03:18

• nice writing! 奇葩！ -非文學青年- ♀ (79 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:16:32

• 回複： -美壇奇葩- ♂ (18274 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:24:30

• oh, you're right! so weird to see an "e" in front of "ing"! -非文學青年- ♀ (0 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:27:30

• A New Version -美壇奇葩- ♂ (18690 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:30:08

• thanks, I should have checked with wiki first: -非文學青年- ♀ (92 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:38:55

• another try: :) -非文學青年- ♀ (37 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:31:08

• Thanks. A typo of mine. -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 14:32:28

• wowowow，你老爸原來是咱村兒裏第一個打井人， -tern2- ♀ (37 bytes) () 07/09/2011 postreply 22:59:51

• 回複： -美壇奇葩- ♂ (17883 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 08:50:21

• 你少時候吃過不少高粱吧？ -tern2- ♀ (104 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 09:26:18

• 回複： -美壇奇葩- ♂ (18298 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 10:23:40

• Oh， great！that can explain why you are horse high, bull strong a -tern2- ♀ (397 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 11:10:46

• 喜歡讀這種小故事，，還有~故事後麵的故事！ -cisy- ♀ (0 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 11:06:43

• You mean? -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 15:05:34

• 回複：You mean? -cisy- ♀ (56 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 20:37:24

• Ha. -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 20:50:58

• Thank everybody for the feedbacks. -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/10/2011 postreply 15:04:42

• Are you also from the Northeast of China? where?where? -千與.千尋- ♀ (457 bytes) () 07/11/2011 postreply 06:25:57

• We also used the well in the front yard as a cool storage of mea -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/11/2011 postreply 19:01:54

• 你的文章讓我想起了由真實故事改編的電影《Erin Brockovich》： -紓珈- ♀ (126 bytes) () 07/11/2011 postreply 11:45:55

• It is an interesting movie. -美壇奇葩- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/11/2011 postreply 19:02:39