Two separate pollution incidents have hit the drinking water supply of the Chinese city of Hangzhou (pop. 9 million), Zhejiang Province, in the beginning of June 2011.
In the first incident, the drinking water supply of more than half a million people was cut off when phenol (carbolic acid) spilled into the Xin'an river, creating a run on bottled water. A tanker truck carrying 20 tons of phenol, which had broken down, was hit by another truck as it was being repaired. The crash ruptured the tanker truck's chemical tank and the leaked phenol was washed by rain into the river, which is one of the sources of Hangzhou's drinking water.
Authorities temporarily shut down water plants and released extra water from nearby dams to dilute the spill. The concentration of carbolic acid near the accident site remained at more than 900 times the safe drinking level. Despite reassurances that drinking water in Hangzhou itself was safe, residents rushed to buy bottled water, leaving shelves in some supermarkets empty.
Published on: 08/06/2011
Two separate pollution incidents have hit the drinking water supply of the Chinese city of Hangzhou (pop. 9 million), Zhejiang Province, in the beginning of June 2011.
In the first incident, the drinking water supply of more than half a million people was cut off when phenol (carbolic acid) spilled into the Xin'an river, creating a run on bottled water. A tanker truck carrying 20 tons of phenol, which had broken down, was hit by another truck as it was being repaired. The crash ruptured the tanker truck's chemical tank and the leaked phenol was washed by rain into the river, which is one of the sources of Hangzhou's drinking water.
Authorities temporarily shut down water plants and released extra water from nearby dams to dilute the spill. The concentration of carbolic acid near the accident site remained at more than 900 times the safe drinking level. Despite reassurances that drinking water in Hangzhou itself was safe, residents rushed to buy bottled water, leaving shelves in some supermarkets empty.
The second incident took place in Hangzhou's Yuhang district (pop. 850,000) after industrial waste contaminated the water supply for 200,000 residents, forcing the authorities to close schools in two townships. After local residents complained that "they smelled something strange in their tap water", local environment authorities found that water in the South Tiaoxi River was contaminated with benzene and alkene. The provincial environmental protection department bureau traced the pollution sources to four companies - Zhejiang Wanma Cable, Zhejiang Jinzhili Chemicals, Hangzhou Derunbao Oil, and Hangzhou Zhenxin Thermal Electric -and subsequently ordered them to stop releasing waste. The Yuhang Water Company had to shut off water supply for parts of northern Hangzhou, including Pingyao and Liangzhu townships, leaving residents to rely on water trucks. Normal water supply resumed four days after the contamination was discovered.
For more on the water contamination incidents in Hangzhou see an CCTV news interview with Ma Jun, Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, an ecological protection NGO.
Source: AP / The Guardian, 07 Jun 2011 ; Shi Jing, China Daily, 08 Jun 2011 ;
Xinhua / Ministry of Environmental Protection, 10 Jun 2011
