Mayor apologizes for delay in reporting chemical leak
Source: Xinhua |
January 8, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE mayor of a north China city yesterday apologized for taking five days to report a chemical leak that affected another city's drinking water supply.
Zhang Bao, mayor of Changzhi, told reporters that the municipal government was told of the leak on December 31 but underestimated its severity.
About 9 tons of aniline had leaked into the Zhuozhang River and contaminated the water supply in Handan City in neighboring Hebei Province by the time the incident became public on Saturday. The water still couldn't be used yesterday.
Aniline, used in the manufacture of polyurethane, can be toxic to humans.
An initial investigation revealed that a loose drainage valve at a chemical plant owned by the Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group was to blame.
The city is required to report such leaks to the provincial environmental authority within two hours. Zhang said the city government had thought the company could clear the pollution in a timely manner, as it had reported only 1.5 tons of aniline leakage.
However, according to the local emergency response headquarters, in addition to the amount of chemical leaked into the river, another 30 tons of spilled aniline had been contained in a nearby disused reservoir.
By Sunday, the concentration of aniline in the river had decreased to 2.15mg per liter from the previous level of 72mg per liter. However, the river water still cannot be used for drinking by people downstream, as the national standard only allows less than 0.1mg per liter of the substance in rivers.
At yesterday's press conference, Wang Junyan, Party secretary of the Tianji group, also apologized for the leak.
Wang said the company lacked experience in testing, calculating and analyzing statistics regarding the aniline leakage, which led to disparities between their initial reports to the government and the statistics they obtained later on.
On Friday, the company reported 8.68 tons of aniline leakage to the government, Wang said.
The delayed response to the contamination caused panic in Handan, where residents ransacked stores for bottled water.
People expressed anger at the Changzhi government's apparent cover-up of the contamination, which they said left them no time to prepare water supplies at home.
The city has stopped taking water from Zhangzhuo River and turned to an underground water source.
The local environmental bureau said yesterday it was clearing the contaminated water in its reservoir. "The reservoir water will not be used until test results prove it safe," it said.
Although water supplies to the city are gradually being restored, some residents continue to worry.
A citizen surnamed Jia said: "We have narrowly survived this crisis, but who can ensure that this kind of thing will never happen in the future? When the next pollution occurs, will we not be informed until five days later?"
Online, many people said the delay in dealing with the matter showed that some people were intentionally withholding the truth and trying to shift responsibility, something that they said was worse than the incident itself.
Du Junfei, a professor at Nanjing University, said the delay in exposing the incident violated the central government's provisions on disclosure of information.
Du said some local governments still lacked legal awareness and public supervision, and the country should strengthen the rule of law in order to cure the problem.
Zhang Bao, mayor of Changzhi, told reporters that the municipal government was told of the leak on December 31 but underestimated its severity.
About 9 tons of aniline had leaked into the Zhuozhang River and contaminated the water supply in Handan City in neighboring Hebei Province by the time the incident became public on Saturday. The water still couldn't be used yesterday.
Aniline, used in the manufacture of polyurethane, can be toxic to humans.
An initial investigation revealed that a loose drainage valve at a chemical plant owned by the Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group was to blame.
The city is required to report such leaks to the provincial environmental authority within two hours. Zhang said the city government had thought the company could clear the pollution in a timely manner, as it had reported only 1.5 tons of aniline leakage.
However, according to the local emergency response headquarters, in addition to the amount of chemical leaked into the river, another 30 tons of spilled aniline had been contained in a nearby disused reservoir.
By Sunday, the concentration of aniline in the river had decreased to 2.15mg per liter from the previous level of 72mg per liter. However, the river water still cannot be used for drinking by people downstream, as the national standard only allows less than 0.1mg per liter of the substance in rivers.
At yesterday's press conference, Wang Junyan, Party secretary of the Tianji group, also apologized for the leak.
Wang said the company lacked experience in testing, calculating and analyzing statistics regarding the aniline leakage, which led to disparities between their initial reports to the government and the statistics they obtained later on.
On Friday, the company reported 8.68 tons of aniline leakage to the government, Wang said.
The delayed response to the contamination caused panic in Handan, where residents ransacked stores for bottled water.
People expressed anger at the Changzhi government's apparent cover-up of the contamination, which they said left them no time to prepare water supplies at home.
The city has stopped taking water from Zhangzhuo River and turned to an underground water source.
The local environmental bureau said yesterday it was clearing the contaminated water in its reservoir. "The reservoir water will not be used until test results prove it safe," it said.
Although water supplies to the city are gradually being restored, some residents continue to worry.
A citizen surnamed Jia said: "We have narrowly survived this crisis, but who can ensure that this kind of thing will never happen in the future? When the next pollution occurs, will we not be informed until five days later?"
Online, many people said the delay in dealing with the matter showed that some people were intentionally withholding the truth and trying to shift responsibility, something that they said was worse than the incident itself.
Du Junfei, a professor at Nanjing University, said the delay in exposing the incident violated the central government's provisions on disclosure of information.
Du said some local governments still lacked legal awareness and public supervision, and the country should strengthen the rule of law in order to cure the problem.
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