soc.culture.asian.american

Ominous Omen for The Filthy Beijing Olympics ?! -- Pollution turns river
red in central China/IHT


International Herald Tribune

Pollution turns river red in central China

The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

BEIJING: Pollution turned part of a major river system in central China
red and foamy, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to as many as
200,000 people, the provincial government and a state news agency said
Wednesday.

Some communities along tributaries of the Han River - a branch of the
Yangtze - in Hubei Province were using emergency water supplies, while
at least 60,000 people were relying on bottled water and underground
sources, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Residents in some towns were getting water from fire trucks, the Hubei
provincial government said on its Web site.

Five schools were closed in the township of Xingou, while others could
not provide food to students, the Xinhua report said without elaborating.

The pollution was discovered Sunday when water plant workers from the
county of Jianli found that the Dongjing River, a tributary of the Han,
had turned red and foamy, the Hubei Web site said.

Intake was suspended at water plants along the river, and tap water was
cut to as many as 120,000 people, according to reports on the site.
Xinhua said 200,000 people were without water.

Tests showed the polluted waters contained elevated levels of ammonia,
nitrogen and permanganate, a chemical used in metal cleaning, tanning
and bleaching, Xinhua said. The pollution apparently flowed down from
the Han River, the Hubei government said without elaborating on its source.

Water from nearby Lake Chang was being diverted to dilute the pollution.

Most of China's canals, rivers and lakes are severely tainted by
industrial, agricultural and household pollution. Chinese leaders say
the country faces a critical water shortage, partly due to pollution and
chemical accidents.

In one of China's worst cases of river pollution, potentially
cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene, spilled into the Songhua
River in November 2005. The northeastern city of Harbin was forced to
sever water supplies to 3.8 million people for five days.

A paper mill dumped wastewater directly into the Han in September 2006,
forcing authorities to cut water supplies for a week in some areas,
Xinhua and government reports said. They did not say how many people
were affected.
Deadly fire in Shenzhen

An early morning fire in a building housing a recycling company killed
15 people and severely injured three others in southern China, the
Shenzhen city Web site said Wednesday, according to an Associated Press
report from Beijing.

The fire in Shenzhen, a booming industrial city in Guangdong Province,
broke out several hours before dawn, a statement on the Web site said.
It took three hours to put the fire out.

It said 15 people were confirmed dead at the scene. Firefighters rescued
six from the building, but three others were taken to a hospital with
serious injuries.

The fire started on the first floor of the building, where a recycling
company called Long Fei was based.

"This company let people live where many flammable waste products were
stored. This caused the deaths," the statement said.

Industrial fires are common in China because of poor safety practices
and a lack of proper equipment.