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Spring thawing not to repollute Songhua river
(AFP/Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-12 10:56
China's top environmental official has said the thawing of ice in the spring
will not repollute the Songhua River, the scene of a severe toxic chemical spill
last year.
Zhou Shengxian,
director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, speaks at a
news conference in Beijing March 11, 2006.
[newsphoto] | "The final conclusion is that this
spring, the Songhua River will not have a second incident of pollution," Zhou
Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, told
reporters at a news conference.
A blast ripped through a PetroChina chemical factory on November 13 in
China's northeastern Jilin province, spewing tonnes of toxic benzene into the
river.
An 80-kilometer-long (50-mile) slick of benzene consequently surged down the
Songhua into the city of Harbin leaving up to four million people without tap
water for days.
The spill also caused alarm in neighboring Russia as the Songhua feeds into
the Amur which provides the main source of drinking water for the 600,000
residents of the Russian city of Khabarovsk.
China managed to reduce the risk by increasing the flow of water through
reservoirs into the Songhua to dilute the chemical.
Experts however had warned that the problem could become worse in spring when
ice flows that have trapped some of the pollution melt.
But Zhou said Saturday that Chinese and Russian experts have analyzed the
water and concluded there was currently no danger and would not be any danger
once the ice melted.
"Our final conclusion is Songhua River's fish are safe to eat, the dairy
products made by farms (on the banks of the river) can be eaten," said Zhou
Saturday.
Traces of pollution were found in the Amur in December but tests found they
presented no danger to humans, Russian officials have said.
China has been embarrassed by the accident, one of the biggest environmental
problems it has faced in recent years, which highlighted the environmental costs
of its rapid industrialization and economic growth.
Scientific
approach to development
China's environment chief thinks
"scientific approach to development" is the tool he needs to tackle the
country's pollution woes.
Zhou Shengxian took the position when his
predecessor was forced to resign over his handling of a toxic spill last
November that poisoned the Songhua River, a source of drinking water for
millions, but Zhou said he was looking to avoid the same fate.
"It has equipped me with a very powerful weapon. If I use this weapon
properly I will not end up resigning," said Zhou.
Zhou said the growth at
any cost approach was changing.
"Prosperity at the expense of the environment is superficial and weak. It is
only a delay of disaster," he said.
The Songhua River spill, which became an international incident when an
explosion at a chemical plant sent 100 tonnes of cancer-causing benzene
compounds flowing toward Russia, showed that a crisis is already underway.
In inspections of chemical plants following the spill, SEPA found dozens of
others that posed safety hazards.
Its report to parliament said of that of 43,000 enterprises inspected nearly
half were found "with hidden danger in terms of environmental safety". The
report called the environmental situation across China "very grave" and said
capacity to enforce and monitor environmental laws was lagging.
Zhou, along with China's top economic planners, have pledged reforms that
better account for the cost of development, including changing the pricing
system of water and energy so they reflect the scarcity of the resources.
"Under some conditions, development is like combustion," Zhou warned. "What's
burned away are resources, what's leftover is pollution, and what's produced in
that process is GDP."
The government is also introducing regulations that aim to integrate
environmental losses into the evaluation of leaders, but analysts say it will
take time before local officials, keen on boosting investment and accustomed to
being judged on growth above all else, change their behaviour.
Officials are also sometimes reluctant to use cleaner technologies if they
are more expensive. A 2004 SEPA survey found that only half of new sewage
treatment plants were operating because cash-strapped local officials thought
they were too costly to use.
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