Chinese officials said yesterday flood-related chemical spills had spread through major rivers, but added there had been little impact on water quality.
Tests showed highly flammable chemicals had spread into Heilongjiang Province after floods swept 7,000 chemical barrels into the Songhua River in Jilin Province, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, in Wuhan, floods swept 1,500 drums of resin, oil, fertilizer and waste into the Yangtze River on Friday, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement.
The announcements came as China tries to cope with an oil spill in Dalian that Greenpeace said ranks as one of the world’s worst known oil disasters.
Beijing said 1,500 tonnes of crude may have poured into the Yellow Sea after two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot on July 16, but Greenpeace says the spill could be 60 times that size.
Heilongjiang Vice Governor Du Jiahao (杜家豪) confirmed to reporters that tests showed the Songhua River spill, which occurred on Wednesday, had crossed into the province, Xinhua said.
The Songhua is the major source of drinking water for about 4.3 million people.
The report did not give details on the impact of the spill on Heilongjiang, only citing previous water quality tests from Jilin that showed “a very small quantity” of hexamethyl disiloxane had been found in the water. It said the amounts “posed no threat” and the impact “can be negligible.”
In other developments, the casualty toll from floods sweeping the northeast now stands at more than 100 people dead or missing after 10 days of downpours, state media said yesterday.
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