BEIJING – To host the Olympic sailing events, the Chinese port city of Qingdao moved a massive boat yard, relocated industries and spent about $850 million on transport links, parks, pollution controls and coastal green belts.
But with little more than a month to go until the Games, a different challenge is cropping up: A forest of blue-green algae is choking the coastal waters, suffocating beaches and lying in thick layers along sailing routes.
An all-out drive has been ordered to clear it by mid-July and block any more drifting into the area. Media reports estimate as many as 20,000 people have either volunteered or been ordered to participate in the operation, while 1,000 boats are scooping algae out of the Yellow Sea.
Environmental problems have posed some of the biggest concerns for organizers of the Beijing Olympics, particularly the dust and filthy air in the Chinese capital. Water quality also has been a concern, given that many coastal Chinese cities dump untreated sewage into the sea.
The algae blossomed around June 1 in waters off Qingdao on the coast of Shandong province, about 400 miles southeast of Beijing.
Blue-green algae blooms when nutrients, sometimes caused by excessive pollution, build up in water. But officials in Qingdao said last week that pollution and poor water quality did not have a “substantial link” to the current outbreak, according to Xinhua news agency. Instead, scientists blamed the bloom on increased rainfall and warmer waters in the Yellow Sea.
In all, the algae is blooming over an area of 5,000 square miles, Xinhua said – including 32 percent of the coastal area set aside for the Aug. 9-21 sailing events, with a closing ceremony on Aug. 23. Sailors from 30 countries and regions have already arrived in Qingdao to begin training.
The Aug. 8-24 Games are a huge opportunity for Qingdao to build its brand. German colonizers in the early 20th century left the city with its two best-known features: the European-style buildings of its old town and the brewery that makes China's best-known beer, Tsingtao – the old-style spelling of the city's name.
