China: Songhua River suffers near-daily chemical spills

[Robbien]

CHINA'S Songhua River has been hit by more than 130 water pollution accidents in the past 11 months. Every few days, a chemical accident pollutes the Songhua, the site of a massive chemical spill last year that halted water supplies to tens of millions of people, said Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

Pan yesterday blamed "irrational distribution of industrial enterprises" for the frequent accidents, the report said. No additional details were given about the scale or types of accidents.

The country faces a critical water shortage, in part because of chronic pollution and chemical accidents. Most of China's canals, rivers and lakes are severely tainted by agricultural and household pollution.

. . .

Pan said that China has more than 20,000 chemical factories along major rivers, including 10,000 along the Yangtze River and 4,000 along the Yellow River.

Last November, a chemical plant blast spilled tons of benzene and other toxic material into the Songhua, halting water supplies to tens of millions in China and Russia. Local authorities were accused of reacting too slowly and delaying public disclosure of the spill.

http://www1.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/09/11/291615/Songhua_River_suffers_near_daily_spills.htm

and another item in China River spill news today:

Hunan: arsenic in river poisons water for 80,000 people

Yueyang (AsiaNews/SCMP) – A chemical plant has discharged arsenide into a river in Hunan, poisoning the drinking water of more than 80,000 people. But local health authorities said that as of yesterday there were no reports of people falling ill as a result of the water pollution.

Xinhua said the environmental authorities of Yueyang County discovered the arsenic spill into Xinqiang River on 8 September during a routine check. Water analyzed revealed arsenide levels to be 10 times the normal standard.

The poisonous fluid reached Dongting lake, home to endangered fish such as the Chinese sturgeon and baiji, a type of dolphin. But the authority said the “animals would be only slightly affected”.

http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7173

[ThomCat]

1. In the rush to become an industrial powerhouse

China is going to do a whole lot of irreparable damage. :(

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. In the rush to become an industrial powerhouse...

China is repeating all of the mistakes that the post-industrial nations made.

[ThomCat]

4. On a larger scale.

x(

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Sure.

But then again, China's a larger country.

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. I think all of their rivers are polluted - and the peasants who

live along them just drink the water anyway - only water they have.

It is awful.

[enigma000]

6. So are they a superpower yet? n/t

[hogwyld]

7. Don't laugh, we'll be begging for their scraps in a couple of years

We will once again be a third world country. Funny how history repeats itself.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. At least China ADMITS there are problems. That is progress.

Out own "government" is trying to get away from that.

[Robbien]

9. There have been so many environmental disasters in the US

all going unreported in the news.

We are all walking toxic dumps because of them and we don't know it.

[cap]

10. there have been major riots in China against the polluters

all not reported by our media