Perilous
Times
Yangtze river pollution sparks panic in China
by Staff Writers
Shanghai (AFP) Feb 8, 2012
A cargo ship spilled acid into China's longest river last week,
contaminating tap supplies and sparking a run on bottled water in
eastern China, the government and state media said.
It is the nation's second water pollution scare in a month, after
factories in the southern region of Guangxi contaminated water
supplies for millions with toxic cadmium and other waste in
January.
The ship, reportedly South Korean, was docked in Zhenjiang city on
the Yangtze river last Thursday when it leaked phenol -- an acid
used in detergents -- into the water because of a faulty valve,
local authorities reported.
Residents started complaining their tap water had a strange smell
on Friday, and soon rumours that a capsized ship was polluting the
river sparked a run on bottled water in at least two cities in
Jiangsu province, the Shanghai Daily said.
One photo carried by the official China Daily newspaper showed a
supermarket shelf stripped nearly bare as a customer loaded water
bottles into a shopping cart.
The water quality had now returned to normal, the government of
Zhenjiang, in Jiangsu, said in a statement late Tuesday.
A resident in the city of three million told AFP the run on water
appeared to have eased on Wednesday.
"There was panic buying of bottled water for a couple of days. But
it stopped after we received a government notice clarifying that
the tap water is safe now," the resident, who declined to be
named, told AFP.
Zhenjiang officials would not comment when contacted by AFP on
Wednesday. The South Korean Consulate in Shanghai, meanwhile, said
it was not aware of the incident.
Phenol -- also called carbolic acid -- can irritate the eyes and
skin, damage the liver and kidneys, and impair the nervous system
if absorbed, according to the US Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.
The incident comes hot on the heels of the more serious
environmental scandal in Guangxi, where a 300-kilometre (190-mile)
section of the Longjiang River was polluted by toxic cadmium and
other waste.
Authorities have detained at least eight company executives and
punished nine government officials over the case.
Many waterways in China have become heavily contaminated with
toxic waste from factories and farms -- pollution blamed on more
than three decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of
environmental protection laws.