【01.01.04 印度时报】Oil spill threatens millions in China

青蛙小王子

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Oil-spill-threatens-millions-in-China/articleshow/5408225.cms

BEIJING: A burst pipeline has spilled 150,000 litres of oil into a major tributary of the Yellow River, which provides drinking water to millions of people in China. Authorities have engaged hundreds of workers to clean up the spill.

The diesel spill that took place from a ruptured pipeline of the China National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday has come to light only now after the local government of Weinan city in Shaanxi province, where it took place, put out the information on its website.

Local environmental departments have warned residents not to use the water of the Chishui river, where it took place, as it may be seriously polluted, media reports said. The Chishui river feeds into the Yellow River, China’s biggest watercourse, flowing about 42km downstream.

Chinese authorities have set up 23 containment belts downstream from the spill to stop it from spreading through the river systems. About 700 people are working to clean up the floating mess, the statement said.

The spill has already begun to spread with oil being detected 33 kilometers downstream from the spill, reports say.

“We must take thorough measures to handle the spill and the pollution and prevent it from entering the Yellow River, while ensuring the safety of drinking water,” a local newspaper, the Chongqing Evening News quoted Chinese vice premier Li Keqiang as saying in a statement.

Preliminary investigations show the pipeline rupture was caused by a local construction project, CNPC, one of the country’s major state-owned oil and gas companies, said in a statement. The pipeline is used to transport diesel from northwest China’s Gansu province to the central parts of the nation, it said.

More than 200 million Chinese currently do not have access to safe drinking water, according to government data.

A major spill in November 2005 resulted in temporarily cutting off water supplies to four million people who depended on the Songhua river in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province. The spill had also resulted in a diplomatic crisis as the spill flowed into neighboring Russia.