East China's Shandong Province have lifted alarm on pollution in
the Yellow River, China's second longest, as the pollution slick
has flown into the sea.
The Shandong provincial government also decided on Saturday to
remove ban on getting water from the Yellow River section in the
province.
Tests by the provincial emergency response team showed that the
100-km-long pollution slick caused by a diesel leakage had
completely flown into the Bohai Sea as of Friday. Thus the
provincial government lifted alarm on the pollution Saturday.
A diesel oil leakage took place on January 5 at a power plant in
Gongyi, central China's Henan Province, discharging six tons of
diesel oil into the Yellow River's mainstream.
The pollution slick entered Shandong Province in the afternoon
of January 7.
Shandong provincial government closed all sluice gates along the
river to guarantee the safety of drinking water for local people.
Government sources said that closure of sluice gates did not have
much influence on local people's life, but did affect industrial
production in some places.
Experts said that the pollution slick did not have great impact
on the ecological environment in the river or on fish and shrimps,
which usually live near the bottom of the water in winter.
Sources with the Shandong provincial marine and fishery bureau
said that the pollution slick would not have great impact on the
sea water near the estuary of the Yellow River, as test results
show that oil content in the pollution slick is only a bit higher
than the standard.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2006)