Cadmium Levels Still Unsafe In Hunan Province River - AFP

[hatrack]

Levels of a cancer-causing chemical found in a Chinese river are still above safety standards after a spill last week, despite earlier official reassurances, state media reported Wednesday.
After nearly a week of clean-up efforts, the amount of cadmium is threatening the safety of drinking water in the downstream regions of the Xiangjiang river in Hunan province, the China Daily reported.

Qu Lili, deputy head of the environmental bureau of Xiangtan city, insisted that tap water for the city of Xiangtan, a city of 700,000 inhabitants, was safe. "Our tap water has remained clean due to emergency chemical treatment," Qu was quoted as saying.

But a southwestern Chinese newspaper, Huaxi Dushi Bao, reported on its website Wednesday that pollution as of Sunday at the local water supply source at Xiawangang was still 22 to 40 times above safe levels.

Water samples taken at three local water-treatment plants were also above safe levels as of Sunday, it said, despite assurances by authorities that day that the quality of water was within safety limits. Officials earlier said they had blocked off the spill and neutralised the cadmium slick with chemicals and diluted it by releasing water from a dam. They had insisted that residents were not in danger.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/news/Toxin_Level_In_Chinese_River_Still_Unsafe.html

[Dead_Parrot]

1. "neutralised the slick with chemicals"

Five words that sum up the state of China's rivers, unfortunately.

[NNadir]

2. Hmmm. The common chemicals for "neutralizing" cadmium are very toxic.

These are sulfides.

One wonders if the Cadmium in question was part of the wonderful new solar cell industry in China.

Probably not.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. LOL.

I'm afraid it's waste from the zinc smelting plants in the area. One could even argue that if more people used Cd-based PV panels, there would be more demand, and the smelters would be more inclined to collect the stuff: So it's actually your fault for putting people off. :P

[NNadir]

4. Yeah, it's all my fault.

One would think with the huge solar business, they would retreive the cadmium without my help, because the solar industry is growing by billions of percent in spite of my mean spirited criticism. It has in fact, just driven all other energy businesses out, but I have yet to be informed of it.

You're right though. We need that cadmium here and now for our vast solar PV industry.

:evilgrin: