13 striking photos that show how polluted China's water has become

Stringer/Reuters

If you woke up tomorrow and suddenly discovered your local river had turned blood red and that an awful, caustic smell had permeated your air, you would be alarmed, right? For residents of Wenzhou, China, and millions like them in China's rapidly industrializing and growing cities and towns, this has become a reality. 

In April of 2015, China issued a water pollution and prevention action plan, which outlined how China would improve its water quality by 2020. The plan has proven to be more difficult than the country anticipated, and they are having a hard time stopping the pollution.

The following photos show instances of water pollution around China dating from 2006 to the present.

Christian Storm wrote an earlier version of this story. 

The red river in Wenzhou is just one example of the water pollution that has been running rampant in China for years.

More than half of China's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water. Almost two-thirds of China's rural population use water contaminated by human and industrial waste.

China is home to 20% of the world's population and contains about 7% of the world's fresh water.

Source: The New York Times