Owner of polluting ship in Yangtze taken to court
By Li Qian |
March 15, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A water company has brought a South Korean cargo ship owner to court over a chemical spill in the lower section of the Yangtze River that contaminated the drinking water in the city of Zhenjiang in eastern Jiangsu Province.
The Wuhan Maritime Court, which has jurisdiction over the region, detained the vessel Gloria and set bail at 20.6 million yuan (US$3.25 million) on February 10, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The judicial proceedings are ongoing and the verdict will be announced soon, the report cited the Zhenjiang government as saying.
The pollution was found on February 3, when local residents reported a pungent odor in their tap water, which triggered panic buying of bottled water. Authorities soon detected excessive levels of phenol, an acidic compound that dissolves in water, in the river and confirmed the Gloria, which had docked at Zhenjiang, was responsible for the pollution, the report said.
Its crew flushed the tanker and let the tainted water leak into the river, according to the preliminary investigation.
Water authorities in neighboring Shanghai prepared to take measures to ensure the city's water safety. Chen Wei, head of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau's emergency headquarters, even vowed to shut down the Qingcaosha reservoir, the city's main water resource at the mouth of the Yangtze, if needed. But Shanghai never detected the pollution.
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, can irritate eyes and skin. If absorbed in large amounts it can damage the liver and kidney.
The concentration of phenol in Zhenjiang's tap water turned out to be low and didn't harm people's health, said the provincial center for disease and prevention. Water samples of Zhenjiang and other cities downstream showed normal two days later, Xinhua said.
The Wuhan Maritime Court, which has jurisdiction over the region, detained the vessel Gloria and set bail at 20.6 million yuan (US$3.25 million) on February 10, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The judicial proceedings are ongoing and the verdict will be announced soon, the report cited the Zhenjiang government as saying.
The pollution was found on February 3, when local residents reported a pungent odor in their tap water, which triggered panic buying of bottled water. Authorities soon detected excessive levels of phenol, an acidic compound that dissolves in water, in the river and confirmed the Gloria, which had docked at Zhenjiang, was responsible for the pollution, the report said.
Its crew flushed the tanker and let the tainted water leak into the river, according to the preliminary investigation.
Water authorities in neighboring Shanghai prepared to take measures to ensure the city's water safety. Chen Wei, head of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau's emergency headquarters, even vowed to shut down the Qingcaosha reservoir, the city's main water resource at the mouth of the Yangtze, if needed. But Shanghai never detected the pollution.
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, can irritate eyes and skin. If absorbed in large amounts it can damage the liver and kidney.
The concentration of phenol in Zhenjiang's tap water turned out to be low and didn't harm people's health, said the provincial center for disease and prevention. Water samples of Zhenjiang and other cities downstream showed normal two days later, Xinhua said.
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