Introduction: Water cleaning trucks
Due to pollution, resulting from vehicles, factories… dust from constant constructions, road works… big cities in China are facing major problems.
One result is that the air contains lots of particle and the dust/dirt level is really high. Whether it is in your apartment, in the malls or the roads, your daily life is followed by pollution.
One of the solutions used against that, is the water cleaning trucks. There are so far two types that we were encountering on a daily basis in Zhengzhou:
- One spraying water in the air
- One throwing water on the ground
The second type is the most devious of all, as it will give you a free shower if you are nearby standing or on an eBike.
Cleaning the ground
This type is the most common, we were encountering it every day. The truck throws pressured water on its sides. This way the complete road is covered with water. This aims to mix the dust/dirt on the ground with water. That way when cars or e-Bike drive on it, the dust doesn’t fly off to the air. But instead it creates mud that stick on the ground. That’s one of the reasons you would see car covered with mud in big cities such as Zhengzhou.
Another bad aspect of it, is that if you are on an e-Bike driving and a truck passes you or if you try take over it, there is a high chance that you would get wet! Unless you are at a intersection or a stop. At this moment, the water flow stops.
To know that such a truck is coming is a child play, trucks are equipped with speaker and have their own dedicated song. So, if you hear a Christmas song in the middle of the city, watch out.
Cleaning the air
This type is the less common one but can still be seen, they are mainly used in summer to refresh and cool down the air and decrease the pollution in the city.
They work the same way as the other type but the risk of getting showered for free is greatly reduce as it only sprays water.
In case of major political meeting such as G20 or other major conference, those trucks are used even more to really cleaned the air. In addition factories will be shut down to decrease drastically the pollution level and have a clean blue sky.
Nonetheless, pollution is decreasing fast in China and now more and more big cities are cleaner and cleaner.
Where to Stay in Zhengzhou
If you happen to be in ZZ, we would recommend to stay in a modern and known hotel. For my business trip, I stayed at:
“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the trip.” – Babs Hoffman
