The levels of cadmium in a small section of the Xiangjiang River
in this central China Province are still above safety levels after
a spill last week, a senior provincial official said yesterday.
The levels were "one or two times" higher than the national
standard in the Wangcheng section of the river in a suburban county
of provincial capital Changsha, Jiang Yimin, provincial
environmental head, told China Daily.
Cadmium, a chemical that can cause neurological disorders and
cancer, seeped into the Xiangjiang River during a silt-cleaning
project on January 4.
Jiang said "drinking water for households is safe due to timely
emergency measures."
The spill happened in Zhuzhou, an industrial hub, and polluted a
stretch of 100 kilometres of the river, a tributary of the
Yangtze.
"We need to keep on alert in case there is new pollution and the
cadmium level rises," said Jiang.
The cadmium content in the river peaked at 80 times the safety
level some days ago, according to Jiang.
Local authorities are neutralizing the spill with various
chemicals and diluting it by releasing water from upstream
reservoirs.
The government has ordered all chemical factories along the
river to suspend production.
Yellow River slick
In another development, a diesel oil pollution slick in the
Yellow River reached Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong
Province, yesterday.
Experts estimate that at the current speed, it would flow into
the Bohai Sea on Friday.
The oil leakage occurred on Thursday at the No 2 Power Plant of
Gongyi, a city in central China's Henan Province.
The neighbouring Shandong Province activated its emergency plan
last Saturday, shutting down 63 water intake points along the
Yellow River.
The suspension will not affect urban water supplies as the river
water is mainly used for agriculture, said an official of the
provincial environmental protection bureau.
"The suspension could last one week," said Zhang Kai, director
of the bureau.
To speed up the dilution of the oil slick, the Xiaolangdi
Reservoir on the Yellow River has doubled its flow to 600 cubic
metres per second.
(China Daily January 10, 2006)