Society

Diesel spill contamination under control

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-06 01:49

SANMENXIA, Henan: The diesel spill has been confined within a key reservoir from further contaminating downstream Yellow River, an official said Tuesday.

The diesel fuel that leaked last week from a pipeline belonging to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has been "basically contained" in Sanmenxia Reservoir on the upper reaches of the Yellow River and caused no further contamination in water in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir and downstream river water, said Zhang Xun, an official with the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

"Measures to control the pollution has shown obvious effects. Monitoring results showed water quality in Sanmenxia has got improved and oil-like substance remained between level four to level five," said Zhang, also a member of the working team established by the State Council to deal with the diesel spill.

He said only part of the 150-tonne diesel fuel that leaked at a site close to Chishui River had entered Weihe River, and experts were calculating the volume of the spill that finally reached Yellow River from the two tributaries.

CNPC will built three new barriers, including one equipped with active carbon, on the waterway of the two reservoirs.

Power generation of Sanmenxia, which has a water reserve of 300 million cubic meters, was shut down on Saturday to hold contaminated water behind the dam and keep it from flowing toward major cities downstream that rely on the river for drinking water.

Operation of Xiaolangdi, currently holding 3.1 billion cubic meters of water, has not been affected so far.

It is expected that Sanmenxia will partly resume power generation on Wednesday, experts said.