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THEN: Volunteers hard at work earlier this month cleaning up the patches of blue-green algae that threatened to mar the sailing event. -- PHOTO: AP
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BEIJING - A MASSIVE algae bloom that threatened the sailing venue for the Olympic Games at the Chinese coastal resort of Qingdao has almost been cleared, state media reported yesterday.
Officials at the picturesque seaside city in northern China's Shandong province had been embarrassed by the unsightly algae that left swathes of offshore waters green and disrupted training for a number of Olympic sailing teams.
'The sailing event, which will be held in more than 20 days, will not be threatened by the algae,' the official Xinhua news agency yesterday quoted Mr Wang Wei, vice-president of the Qingdao Sailing Committee, as saying.
Qingdao had set July 15 as the deadline for clearing the algae from the sailing competition area, prompting a massive deployment of ships and troops to scoop the green muck off beaches and offshore. Sailing events are scheduled to start on Aug 9, a day after the official opening.
More than 1,400 boats and 10,000 troops and volunteers were dispatched to help clean-up efforts at one stage, and one million tonnes of algae had been cleared, Xinhua added.
Two barriers have been installed to keep algae from the sailing venues and ships will monitor the area, Xinhua said.
The amount of algae on local beaches had visibly shrunk, residents reported. Sailors, who late last month were tacking to avoid large clumps of floating weed, said the algae was no longer a problem in training areas.
'There's so little algae out there now that I really don't think it'll be a problem,' said Mr Morgan Reeser, a coach with the British sailing team.
But the Qingdao authorities have warned officials not to be complacent and to be ready to attack further outbreaks.
'We cannot slack off for even a second. We must strive for victory and keep clear-headed at this time,' said a notice posted on the city government's website (www.qingdao.gov.cn).
Algae blooms regularly blight the shores of Qingdao, where Chinese tourists flock to in the millions, but local residents say the current bloom is the biggest they have ever seen.
Officials have been at pains to cast the algae bloom as a harmless natural phenomenon, but local residents and scientists have expressed scepticism, blaming industrial pollutants and agricultural run-off for feeding the bloom.
REUTERS
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