Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 25. October 4, 1976

What kind of environmental action has been taken?

What kind of environmental action has been taken?

The Chinese have based their campaign on sound ecological knowledge and management. Knowing that the disease was spread by the disposal of human body wastes in water systems, they have put the major emphasis in providing clean water and safe sanitation and sewage disposal. Knowing that the snail is amphibious and cannot survive for many months in either soil or water alone they have 'drowned' and 'buried' millions of snails. Knowing that the snail thrives in slow-running waters they have increased the flow of streams and canals. Knowing that the preferred habitat of the snail is often around the roots of weeds, they have cleared vast amounts of weeds from the waterways. Knowing that the snail lives in the top 6 centimetres of soil when the weather is hot, they have concentrated their offensive in June and August. Knowing that over a third of the snail population lives on muddy banks within one third of a metre above or below the waterline, they have scraped the banks clean of snails and re-dug the side of waterways to make them steeper.