Panic-buying as pollution hits river
Source: Xinhua |
July 28, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RESIDENTS have resorted to panic-buying bottled water after authorities in Mianyang City of southwestern China's Sichuan Province announced that the city's major water source has been contaminated by flood-washed residue from a local manganese plant.
Residents have besieged supermarkets, stores and shopping malls for bottled water, despite the government mobilizing fire engines to transport 375 tonnes of water to communities over Tuesday night and into yesterday morning.
Contaminant from the Xichuan Minjiang Electrolytic Manganese Plant in the county of Songpan in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture was washed into rivers by heavy rain last week and contaminated the Fujiang River, Mianyang's water source, according to a notice posted on the city government's official website, which was repeated in local media.
Ye Hongjian, general manager of the Mianyang Water Group, said the Fujiang River is one of the city's three major water sources, accounting for 70 percent of the drinking water supply for some 300,000 people in the city's urban areas.
A woman named Zhou said: "I was at a tea house with my friends when I heard the warning on Tuesday afternoon, but when I rushed to the nearest store, I saw a long queue of buyers, and there was not a bottle on the shelves."
Sales people at several major supermarkets and shopping malls, including Wal-Mart and Parkson, said they have ordered more bottled water to cope with the buying spree.
Speaking through local media, the government has said it has purchased bottled water from neighboring areas.
"Please don't frantically buy bottled water. The supply can be guaranteed, and the prices can remain stable," said a government notice delivered on Mianyang TV yesterday morning.
Yu Xiaofeng, an emergency response official, said that by yesterday 50,000 bottles of water had been diverted to the city from neighboring areas.
The city's environment protection bureau took samples from the Fujiang River and yesterday reported that the manganese content was 1.89 milligrams per liter, and the ammonia and nitrogen content 3.35mg. The permitted levels are 0.1mg and 0.5mg respectively.
The bureau said the levels of contaminants were declining.
In Songpan, from where the mine residue leaked, dam repairs are under way. It was damaged by landslides after downpours pounded the region from last Thursday.
Landslides also damaged residential roads and houses, forcing 272 people to leave.
An official at the emergency management office of the Mianyang municipal government said the floodgate at the Wudong reservoir was closed from 1:30pm on Thursday to stop polluted water flowing downstream.
On the lower reaches of the Fujiang River, Chong-qing Municipality initiated its environmental emergency plan on Tuesday evening and dispatched specialists to increase river water quality monitoring.
From 2:50am to 9:50am yesterday, the Chongqing section of the river was contaminated with manganese, but levels did not exceed official limits and had not affected drinking water sources, according to the Chongqing Municipal Environmental Bureau.
Residents have besieged supermarkets, stores and shopping malls for bottled water, despite the government mobilizing fire engines to transport 375 tonnes of water to communities over Tuesday night and into yesterday morning.
Contaminant from the Xichuan Minjiang Electrolytic Manganese Plant in the county of Songpan in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture was washed into rivers by heavy rain last week and contaminated the Fujiang River, Mianyang's water source, according to a notice posted on the city government's official website, which was repeated in local media.
Ye Hongjian, general manager of the Mianyang Water Group, said the Fujiang River is one of the city's three major water sources, accounting for 70 percent of the drinking water supply for some 300,000 people in the city's urban areas.
A woman named Zhou said: "I was at a tea house with my friends when I heard the warning on Tuesday afternoon, but when I rushed to the nearest store, I saw a long queue of buyers, and there was not a bottle on the shelves."
Sales people at several major supermarkets and shopping malls, including Wal-Mart and Parkson, said they have ordered more bottled water to cope with the buying spree.
Speaking through local media, the government has said it has purchased bottled water from neighboring areas.
"Please don't frantically buy bottled water. The supply can be guaranteed, and the prices can remain stable," said a government notice delivered on Mianyang TV yesterday morning.
Yu Xiaofeng, an emergency response official, said that by yesterday 50,000 bottles of water had been diverted to the city from neighboring areas.
The city's environment protection bureau took samples from the Fujiang River and yesterday reported that the manganese content was 1.89 milligrams per liter, and the ammonia and nitrogen content 3.35mg. The permitted levels are 0.1mg and 0.5mg respectively.
The bureau said the levels of contaminants were declining.
In Songpan, from where the mine residue leaked, dam repairs are under way. It was damaged by landslides after downpours pounded the region from last Thursday.
Landslides also damaged residential roads and houses, forcing 272 people to leave.
An official at the emergency management office of the Mianyang municipal government said the floodgate at the Wudong reservoir was closed from 1:30pm on Thursday to stop polluted water flowing downstream.
On the lower reaches of the Fujiang River, Chong-qing Municipality initiated its environmental emergency plan on Tuesday evening and dispatched specialists to increase river water quality monitoring.
From 2:50am to 9:50am yesterday, the Chongqing section of the river was contaminated with manganese, but levels did not exceed official limits and had not affected drinking water sources, according to the Chongqing Municipal Environmental Bureau.
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