Waste water from two paper mills in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region had to be
discharged to flood arable lands and houses around them to avoid
endangering levees along the Yellow River, China's top environment
watchdog revealed yesterday.
In a statement issued yesterday, the State Environment
Protection Administration (SEPA) explained the situation as part of
a summary of nationwide environment emergencies.
On April 10, a severe storm hit Bayannur League, Inner Mongolia,
and more than 10 million tons of waste water stored in a temporary
water pool of the Urad Front Banner threatened to overflow, which
could have endangered levees along the Yellow River.
To protect the levees, the local government decided to open the
temporary water pool, which then inundated more than 66 hectares of
arable land nearby.
Fifty-seven households nearby were also affected.
The water, which was seriously polluted, was mainly waste water
from two local paper mills and the banner, the statement said.
The two local paper mills, Saiwai Xinghuazhang Paper Co and
Meili Beichen Paper Co, had been pouring unprocessed waste water
directly into the pool for a long time, which caused the pollution,
the statement said.
What is more, the local government is also responsible because
it arbitrarily reduced the volume of the pool, which violates an
environmental protection regulation and was also a major cause of
the emergency.
The two mills were shut down for further inspection and the
local government has been instructed to rebuild the pool.
(China Daily May 16, 2006)