With Beijing hosting the World Water Congress, the Associated Press provides the latest update to the Songhua River pollution story (via China Environmental News Digest):
China’s Songhua River, the site of a massive chemical spill last year that halted water supplies to tens of millions of people, has been hit by more than 130 water pollution accidents in the past 11 months, state media said Monday.
Every few days, a chemical accident pollutes the Songhua, Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Pan blamed “irrational distribution of industrial enterprises” for the frequent accidents, the report said. No additional details were given about the scale or types of accidents.
China’s is said to be hosting the congress in an effort to draw more foreign investment into its water sector. See state-run China Daily’s take here, and a more thorough report from Inter Press Service via Asia Times here.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Progress Report has reprinted excerpts from an story by Craig Simons about the controversy surrounding China’s major water diversion project–the Big Western Line–from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Technorati Tags: China, water pollution
