The cadmium slick on Guangdong's Beijiang River has
been stopped by a dam at Yingde, ensuring water safety to
downstream residents, according to Yingde municipal government
sources quoted by China Daily yesterday.
Wang Zhensheng, a local government official, said
the contaminated water had been stopped by the Baishiyao Dam,
before assuring residents that "water in the lower stream is
safe."
Wang said the upstream Mengzhou Dam will discharge
390 million cubic meters of clean water to dilute the cadmium, and
that Feilaixia Dam further downriver has also been shut as a
precaution to prevent the pollution spreading.
The local authorities will not reopen Baishiyao and
Feilaixia Dams until the water returns to safe levels of toxicity,
it was reported, but the time for that has not been fixed.
Experts have been testing water once every two
hours at seven testing stations in Yingde.
The local government suspended the water supply
there for several hours yesterday morning while an emergency
pipeline was constructed, but it said the supply has since returned
to normal.
Although the polluted water is still far from the
downstream cities of Guangzhou and Foshan, authorities there have
stepped up water testing
Xiao Yanbing, an official with the provincial
environment protection bureau told China Daily: "Hopefully
the polluted water will not reach either Guangzhou or Foshan,
thanks to the authorities' prompt response and effective
measures."
The river became heavily polluted with cadmium in
wastewater discharged by Shaoguan Smelting Plant and was detected
by Guangdong’s environment protection department on December 16,
when levels were ten times above national safety limits.
(China Daily December 23, 2005)