China Battles To Stop Diesel Polluting Yellow River

Ben Blanchard, PlanetArk 4 Jan 10;

The leak, from a pipeline owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in northwestern Shaanxi province, was discovered on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The company immediately closed the pipeline when the accident happened, the report added, but not before some of the diesel ended up in the Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River, a major water source for millions of people.

"The company has built 23 blocking belts on the rivers and the local government built three more dams to prevent leaked oil from flowing into the Yellow River," Xinhua said.

"A 700-people crew has been working on the clean-up. So far, much of the leaked oil and polluted silt has already been taken away," it added, citing the company as its source.

But diesel has been detected in the water 33 km from the leak, Xinhua said, and residents have been warned against using any of the river water.

"Preliminary investigation showed that the pipeline damage was caused by construction work of a third party," it further quoted the company as saying, without elaborating.

China periodically faces spills into rivers that result in water supplies being cut off, most seriously in 2005 when an explosion at an industrial plant sent toxic chemicals streaming into the Songhua river in northeastern city of Harbin, forcing the shutdown of water supplies to nearly 4 million people.

Run-off from heavy fertilizer use, industrial waste and untreated sewage also caused a foul-smelling algae bloom on a lake in the southern province of Jiangsu in 2007 that left tap water undrinkable in a city of more than 2 million.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

North China oil spill threatens Yellow River
Yahoo News 3 Jan 10;

BEIJING (AFP) – A burst oil pipeline in north China has spewed thousands of gallons (litres) of diesel into a major tributary of the Yellow River, state media said Sunday.

The spill occurred on Wednesday last week on the Chishui river in Shaanxi province when a pipeline operated by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) ruptured, a statement on the Weinan city government website said.

Emergency measures have been taken to stop the leak, with 23 containment belts set up downstream from the spill and up to 700 people scrambling to clean up the mess, the statement said.

Local government officials refused to reveal how much diesel had spilled into the river or comment on the spill when contacted by AFP.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that up to 150,000 litres (40,000 US gallons) had leaked into the river about 70 kilometres (42 miles) from the Yellow River, one of China's longest watercourses.

Oil has already been detected 33 kilometres downstream from the spill, the report said.

"We must take thorough measures to handle the spill and the pollution and strictly prevent it from entering the Yellow River, while ensuring the safety of drinking water," the Chongqing Evening News quoted Vice Premier Li Keqiang as saying.

Local environmental departments have warned residents not to use the river water as it may be polluted, the report said.

A preliminary investigation showed that the pipeline rupture was caused by a local construction project, CNPC, one of China's biggest state-owned oil and gas companies, said in a statement.

The pipeline is used to transport diesel from northwest China's Gansu province to the central parts of the nation, it said.

Around 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 China's Heilongjiang province resulted in a cut off of water supplies to up to four million people in the provincial capital of Harbin before flowing down river into Russia, causing a diplomatic crisis.