It’s a problem that the Chinese government claimed to have fixed. They even went so far as to publicly punish local officials. It seems that they didn’t do enough because the nasty green slop is back. Caused by pollution run-off and overuse of chemical fertilizers this green algal bloom is threatening the drinking water of millions of people. Imagine if all of New York City couldn’t drink the tap water.

New satellite pictures of eastern China show the algae spreading in Taihu and Chaohu lakes, the Workers Daily newspaper said.

The bloom in Lake Taihu has already caused government panic who have ordered residents of nearby Wuxi city in Jiangsu province to turn off contaminated tap water supplies, resulting in panic buying of bottled water.

Scientists said that algae was still infecting Lake Taihu and had spread to Chaohu Lake in neighbouring Anhui province, where 40 square kilometres (15 square miles) of its surface were covered by the green slime, the newspaper said.

Local government officials were monitoring water quality “by the hour” said Zhang Bangguo, Anhui province Environmental Protection Agency chief, describing the situation as “grave.” Premier Wen Jiabao, was quoted as describing it as a pollution “wake-up call.” More than 70 percent of China’s waterways and 90 percent of its underground water are contaminated by pollution, according to government figures.

More pictures after the fold

More pictures here.