The People's Court of Jinjiang District in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, handed down sentences last Friday to six people responsible for a serious pollution incident that hit the Tuojiang River in Sichuan Province.

The river, which feeds China's main shipping artery, the Yangtze, was heavily polluted in February and March 2004 when a chemical plant dumped lethal waste water containing synthetic ammonia and nitrogen into its upper reaches.

As the river is the sole water source in the area, the pollution caused the death of more than 500,000 kilograms of fish, and left more than 1 million people in the afflicted counties and cities such as Jianyang, Zizhong and Neijiang without drinkable water for nearly a month. The total economic loss reached 300 million yuan (US$ 37.04 million).

After this great tragedy happened, authorities including the CPC Sichuan Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Provincial Bureau of Supervision, the Provincial Procuratorate and the Provincial Public Security Bureau launched a joint investigation.

Investigation found that the chemical plant did not undergo mandatory filter procedures before discharging its chemical-ridden wastewater.

The culprit, Sichuan Chemical Company Ltd, located in the provincial capital Chengdu, was soon shut down.

The People's Court of Jinjiang District announced that Li Jian, manager of Sichuan Chemical Company Ltd, was guilty of being negligent of environmental protection during production.

Li received a three-year sentence and a fine of 30,000 yuan (US$3,703).

Also, Song Shiying, the deputy director of the local environmental protection bureau in charge of pollution control, got a 30-month prison term.

The court decision said Song "failed to prevent a serious pollution incident from happening, and caused a fishery loss of 15.69 million yuan (US$1.94 million).

Four more people, either with the company or the bureau, also face imprisonment.

(China Daily September 12, 2005)