Society

NE China province fights to contain barrels in river

By Ding Luyang and Guo Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-02 08:39

Soldiers retrieve chemical barrels from along the Changfeng Bridge section of the Hanjiang River on Saturday morning after floods submerged the warehouse of two barrel factories in Wuhan, capital of Central China’s Hubei province, leaving 3,000 barrels soaked in the river. [CHENG YING / FOR CHINA DAILY]

JILIN, Jilin - Chemicals have been detected in a river in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province four days after floods swept some 7,000 chemical barrels into a major river, local officials said on Sunday.

Chemical-tainted water was found at Guqia Port, Zhaoyuan city in Heilongjiang, Du Jiahao, executive deputy governor of the province, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Related readings:  Over 7,000 barrels intercepted on NE China river  5,016 chemical barrels recovered from NE China river  Soldier drowns while retrieving chemical barrels

But the water in the Songhua River, a major drinking water source for millions, remains safe, officials said, citing results of water quality tests.

Tests have revealed traces of trimethylsilanol in the river, however, indicating the tainted water has arrived in Heilongjiang, said Li Ping, director of the provincial environmental protection department.

"Our conclusion is that the water in the Songhua River is not contaminated, and that it is safe for drinking," Li added. "Biological toxicity tests show the water is safe."

Ministry of Environmental Protection tests also showed the river's water quality "within a normal range," ministry spokesman Tao Detian told Xinhua on Sunday.

Amid Russian fears that the chemicals may contaminate the Amur River, which feeds water to the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, the Russian toxicologists said there was "no deviation from the norm" in the water quality, Russia's Ria Novosti news agency reported.

In Jilin province, tests have reflected "a very small quantity" of hexamethyl disiloxane in the water.

Environmental specialists said the chemicals in the water "pose no threat" to public health and that the environmental impact of the accident is "negligible."

By 4 pm Sunday, rescue workers had retrieved the majority of the 7,138 chemical barrels that had been swept into the river on Wednesday morning after floods slammed into the warehouses of two chemical companies in Jilin city of Jilin province.

A total of 6,387 barrels - some filled with chemicals; some not - were recovered. The other 684 barrels were found moored in nearby cornfields and tidal flats, the provincial government said in a notice posted on its website Sunday.

Xinhua reported that about 3,600 of the barrels were filled with 170 kg of flammable chemical liquid.

Provincial government officials have taken further measures to intercept the missing 67 barrels.

To do so, they have chained boats together across the 500-m-wide waterway to block the passage of the barrels.

Eighteen surveillance cameras, meanwhile, were stationed on Sunday at Hadashan Reservior in Jilin province to monitor the waterways and ensure no barrels flowed into the lower reaches of the river.

As a result, the Jilin officials said no barrel has left the province so far.

More than 12,000 soldiers, police officers and firefighters participated in the rescue work. High winds and rising waters have rendered salvage operations very difficult, said Yao Yue, an official with the rescue team.

The flood in Jilin province has also ripped 12 dredges from anchors, threatening to destroy a major dam in the lower reaches of the Songhua River.

More than 300 soldiers and boats have been dispatched to prevent the gold mining dredges, the heaviest of which weigh more than 15 tons, from crashing into the Fengman Hydroelectric Station.

Local authorities said all the dredges have been controlled by the police and maritime workers as of 5:40 pm Saturday.

In a similar accident on Friday, 1,500 sealed drums containing oil, resin and fertilizer sunk in floodwaters in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province in Central China, along the Yangtze River.

But all the drums have been safely retrieved and the water quality of the Yangtze River was not affected, local environmental protection authorities said.

Police arrested the people responsible for the improper storage of the drums.

Floods and rain-triggered landslides have also left more than 100 people dead or missing in Jilin province over the past few days, provincial civil affairs officials said on Sunday.

Additionally, some 37,000 houses have collapsed and 125,000 others have been damaged while 592,000 residents have been evacuated, the provincial civil affairs department said in its latest disaster update, bringing the economic costs of natural disasters since June up to 9.15 billion yuan.

Zhao Yinan contributed to this story.