Water pollution is
threatening China's oldest hydropower station - built nearly a century ago - and
has forced it to halt operation several times.
The Shilongba Power Plant, located in the western suburbs of Kunming, in
southwest China's Yunnan Province, was built in 1908 using German technology and
equipment, said Deputy Director Tian Jinghua.
It draws freshwater from Dianchi Lake to generate power, Tian said.
But it has had to suspend operation several times in recent years because of
water pollution, he said.
Chemical plants on the upper reaches of the Tanglangchuan River have been
discharging acidic effluent into the lake, according to the power plant.
In November 2003, acidic water "attacked" the power plant, resulting in
direct economic losses of up to 19 million yuan (US$2.4 million), Tian said.
The latest incident occurred on October 15 and 16 this year. Highly acidic
water forced the plant to stop generating power for 15 hours, he said.
A probe by local environment authorities found that two of the three chemical
plants on the upper reaches of the Tanglangchuan River were covertly discharging
highly toxic waste water.
Two plants were ordered to suspend operations and improve their production
processes, and were fined 50,000 yuan and 60,000 yuan, said Li Li, director of
the Pollution Control Department of the Kunming Environmental Bureau.
The three polluters each agreed to pay 20,000 yuan to the power plant to
partially compensate its economic losses.
"But imposing paltry fines is not likely to deter chemical plants," said Li.
She pointed out that a Kunming chemical plant would have to spend 760,000
yuan over a six-month period to dispose of waste water correctly but can only be
fined 100,000 yuan if it violates waste water discharge regulations.
