Environmental Change and Health Risks

Cause of death data show that Lianshui County has a high incidence of oesophagus cancer. This chapter considers health risks in the county from the perspective of environmental history. After the Yellow River became blocked and took over the course of the Huai River, it caused Lianshui to suffer an 800-year period of floods, waterlogging and attendant disasters. This brought prolonged poverty and water-related health risks. The later conversion of dry fields to rice paddy brought further changes in the water environment of Lianshui’s villages, connecting drinking water sources to the agricultural irrigation system, and causing new health risks. However, as the economic circumstances of the village improved, so did the drinking water supply, and water-related health risks then declined.