Sluice gate opens to clean up Shanghai's river ( 2003-08-11 14:00) (chinadaily.com.cn)
In an effort to prevent a large oil spill from polluting a main source of
Shanghai's tap water, a sluice gate in Jiangsu Province was opened Sunday
afternoon to release water from the Taihu Lake at the upper reaches of the
Huangpu River.
A boat collision has caused the leaking
of 85 tons of oil into the waters of the
upper reaches of Huangpu River, where there are 13 water supply stations serving both industrial
and residential users.[Xinhua]
The oil spill is downstream from the tap-water source, but due to low water
levels in the river officials were worried the oil would travel upstream. To
stop that from happening, they opened the Taipu River Sluice Gate to raise water
levels and push the spill further downstream, according to Zhang Zhenyu, a
spokesman for the city's anti-flooding headquarters.
The tap-water source supplies about 70 percent of the city's water. PLA
soldiers were rushed to the scene yesterday in an effort to clean up as much of
the spill as possible before an expected arrival of high tide on the river on
August 12.
According to Zhou Zhengbao, a spokesman for the Shanghai Maritime Safety
Administration, more than 2,000 people and 173 vessels are working to clean up
the spill area, which is about 10 kilometers long.
The soldiers began removing oil-soaked plants from along the banks of the
river at about 3:30 am yesterday.
After a stretch of the banks was cleared of polluted plants, workers began to
hose the area to push the oil back into the water where it is easier to clean
up, according to the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration.
The work is not only dirty, it also poses health risks as many of the
soldiers suffered from allergic reactions to the toxic oil, which spilled after
a small vessel collided with a cargo ship last Tuesday.
More than 100 soldiers were treated at a temporary clinic set up along the
river bank.
Nine oil-blocking nets were also placed along the river yesterday to contain
the spill, which the government hopes to have cleaned up by tomorrow when the
tide is expected to rise, possibly making the situation worse.
Local officials together with counterparts in neighboring Jiangsu and
Zhejiang provinces are still searching for a 500-ton vessel blamed for the
spill.
When the vessel collided with an anchored cargo ship early in the morning
last Tuesday, it caused 85 tons of fuel to spill into the
river.
