China: Second Toxic Spill in Barely More Than a Month

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | December 27th, 2005 | Trackback

The second toxic spill into a major Chinese river in barely a month occurred Dec 15 when a smelter dumped more than 1,000 tons of cadmium-contaminated water into the Bei River, which flows through Guangdong province and joins the Pearl River to run through Guangzhou, one of China’s biggest and most important cities. The Pearl River enters the South China Sea just west of Hong Kong. Authorities trapped the contamination in a dam about 60 miles from Guangzhou and dumped neutralizing chemicals and water from reservoirs into the river to dilute the cadmium. By Dec. 25 officials expressed confidence that the spill would pose no threat to drinking water in Guangzhou, but emergency measures were being put in place. Meanwhile, the other toxic spill, on the Songhua River which becomes the Amur in Russia, reached Khabarovsk, where residents stocked up on bottled water despite Kremlin reassurances that the city’s water was safe to drink.

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