Nearly Half Of Chinese Chemical Plants Pose Major Environmental Risks

FROTH AND BUBBLE

File photo: Dunan Plant, China - a worker stands at the blast site of a chemical explosion at the plant. Photo courtesy of AFP.

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Jul 11, 2006
An estimated 45 percent of China's chemical plants pose major risks to the environment, the government said Tuesday, citing a survey conducted after a major chemical spill last year.

The survey covered 7,555 major chemical factories and found a substantial number located along rivers and lakes or in densely-populated areas, the State Environmental Protection Administration said, according to Xinhua news agency.

Factories located near waterways have caused many water pollution incidents, SEPA officials said.

Last November an explosion at a chemical factory in northeast China caused a large amount of toxic nitrobenzene to spill into the Songhua River, forcing the local government to cut water supply for days to millions of residents downstream in Heilongjiang province.

The incident raised alarm nationwide and internationally about the potential for environmental disasters in China, due to often unchecked and unpunished pollution and unsafe practices by industrialists.

If effective measures are not taken, more environmental disasters could occur, SEPA said.

"Most of the plants are located in environmentally sensitive areas without precautionary mechanisms to prevent the outbreak of pollution," said Pan Yue, the agency's deputy director.

From January to April this year SEPA said it received reports of 49 pollution incidents from 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including 13 serious ones.

These were mainly caused by industrial accidents and illegal discharge of pollutants by enterprises, especially from chemical and petrochemical plants.

The survey focused on major chemical factories. It revealed that 1,354 of them are located along rivers, lakes, coastal areas or reservoirs, while 2,489 are close to cities or in densely-populated areas.

Some 100 were built along the country's major project to divert water from the Yangtze River in southern China to the arid north, with 86 around the Three Gorges reservoir in the southwest.

SEPA had ordered 3,745 of the chemical and petrochemical plants to step up safety measures and 49 to relocate, Pan said.

The government also plans to spend 14.05 billion yuan (1.8 billion dollars) to guard against environmental risks in the 7,555 plants, Pan said, without specifying what measures would be taken.

Source: Agence France-Presse

FROTH AND BUBBLE

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