Three people responsible for the leaking of poisonous arsenic in
southwest China's Guizhou Province have been detained, local
police said on Saturday.
Zhang Deren, who started to run a sulphuric acid plant in Dushan
County in the Buyi and Miao ethnic autonomous prefecture in
southern Guizhou in December last year without the permit of
relative authorities, has been detained for the accident.
Zhang's wife Song Rongju, and Song's brother Song Ronggui, who
were involved in sulphuric acid production and also held
responsible for the chemical spill, were under house arrest and in
custody, respectively.
Twelve villagers were slightly poisoned, showing symptoms of
nausea, vomit, diarrhoea and headache. Another 21 residents felt
uncomfortable and doctors tested excessive amount of arsenic in
some of their urine.
All the affected villagers have recovered and released from
hospital as of Saturday.
Initial investigation showed that arsenic-containing waste water
was leaked from timeworn and substandard production equipment in
the plant in early December, but it was still unknown how much
arsenic was in it.
The spill slowly reached the downstream Duliu River that runs
through Sandu County on December 24, forcing the closure of a water
plant which takes water from the river, and leaving some 20,000
residents in drinking water shortage for about ten days.
The local government has been offering bottled water to ensure
people's basic need and trying hard to deal with the pollution.
Nearly two tons of carbon and 4,400 tons of calcium oxide have
been put into the contaminated river to absorb the poisonous
chemical and induce sediment.
The local government has earmarked some 1 million yuan in the
drinking water supply and river purification efforts.
The southern part of Guizhou has been suffering from a drought
that was rare in 50 years, but it helped to slow the spread of the
chemical spill to downstream areas.
In the worst situation, every liter of the river water contained
0.56 mg of arsenic but it dropped to 0.196 mg per liter, still
higher than the state standard of 0.05 mg per liter.
However, the river is expected to return to normal in two weeks
before it reaches Hunan Province, said Yang Bo, deputy director
with environment protection bureau of southern Guizhou, as more
rainfall in the downstream regions will help to dilute the
pollution.
No contamination has been found in lower reaches of the river so
far, according to test results from water quality monitoring
stations along the river.
The water plant has upgraded its equipment to ensure the
production of safe drinking water. Workers were busying testing all
facilities Saturday night for the resumption of operation on
Sunday.
Arsenic could be found in human bodies, but excessive amount of
the chemical element, especially arsenic trioxide, would cause
cancer, poisoning or even death.
(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2008)