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China oil spill hits Yellow River: state media
Beijing (AFP) Jan 4, 2010 An oil spill from a ruptured pipeline in northern China has reached the Yellow River, in the latest environmental accident to threaten the nation's drinking water, state media said Monday. Water quality monitors at the Sanmenxia reservoir on the Yellow River began detecting traces of diesel on Sunday, four days after the pipeline burst, the China News Service said. The accident occurred on Wednesday when a pipeline belonging to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) -- the country's top oil producer -- ruptured. Xinhua news agency reported that up to 150,000 litres (40,000 gallons) of diesel leaked from the pipeline, but local government officials and the company has refused to report the size of the spill. On Saturday, CNPC said in a statement on its website that the spread of pollution had been "basically controlled" and that most of the spilled diesel had been cleaned up. The company blamed the spill on a construction company building a project near the underground pipeline that transported diesel from northwestern China's Gansu to central Hunan province. The spill occurred near the confluence of the Chishui and Wei rivers in the northern province of Shaanxi, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) upstream from the Yellow river. Downstream from the spill, the Henan provincial government has set up a special working group to monitor water quality and ensure "the safety of drinking water supplies," the China News Service said. The Sanmenxia reservoir is about 200 kilometres upstream from the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, which relies on the Yellow River for the drinking water of some of the city's 2.4 million residents, reports said. Local environmental departments have warned residents not to use the river water, reports said. More than 30 years of unbridled economic growth have left most of China's lakes and rivers heavily polluted, while the nation's urban dwellers also face some of the world's worst air pollution. More than 200 million Chinese currently do not have access to safe drinking water, according to government data. In November 2005, a major oil spill on the Songhua river in northeast Heilongjiang province forced officials to cut water supplies to up to four million people in the provincial capital Harbin. The oil then flowed down river into Russia, sparking a diplomatic row.
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