Posted on 02/21/2009 7:09:50 AM PST by SolidWood
Beijing: Carbolic acid spilled into a river from a chemical plant has forced the suspension of tap water supplies to more than one million people in China's eastern city of Yancheng, officials said on Saturday.
The privately owned Biaoxin Chemical Company was found illegally discharging waste water into a river in Jiangsu Province, Xue Yu, Secretary-General of the city administration, said.
Two water plants in the city were found contaminated with phenol after the waste water was discharged into the river.
The Yancheng City has three tap water plants, which provide drinking water to the city's 1.5 million people. One water plant was not contaminated, said Xue.
Officials at the two water plants noticed an unusual smell early Friday and tests confirmed the presence of carbolic acid, or phenol, making the water unfit for drinking.
Residents at the second floor or above have no access to tap water due to the inadequate water pressure, a manager of Huijin Water Co. Ltd., which manages the two plants, said.
The stoppage of the tap water has also affected industrial production in the city.
It was not immediately known when the two water plants would resume operation. Meanwhile, the workers are cleaning the water pipes.
Isn’t Socialism great! /sarc
Friends of ours live there (because of husband's work) until June. They live on a shoreline community, and cannot walk the shoreline. There a needles that wash ashore and it stinks. They cannot drink the water and the air is also polluted. They have all been sick with bronchitis, except for the Mom. The Dad and the two little daughters are fine now, but were really sick after they first got there. It's a mess and NO ONE is allowed to complain...IF you get my drift.
It’s only a matter of time before our increased socialism and their increased capitalism intersect on the Economic Freedom chart. Thereafter, they’ll be the economic superpower.
If they live long enough and at this rate, that is questionable.
How thankful are we that we were not born there. What a nightmare.
Our future, under our new Dear Leader and his minions.
Yep! Unless we can make a comeback in 2 years and throw the bum out in 4 years.
So does anybody know what factories are in the area? maybe we can head off the next round of poising before it’s shipped here.
Substitute the carbolic acid for potassium permanganate. It’s safe. But everybody will be pissing in various shades between red and purple and freak out.
What’s wrong with a little acid in your tap water? It’s China.
Don’t drink the brown acid water man.
They can look for at least a month of testing before resumption of normal supplies, from MSDS:
“Ecological Information
Environmental Fate:
When released into the soil, this material is expected to readily biodegrade. When released into the soil, this material is not expected to leach into groundwater. When released into the soil, this material may evaporate to a moderate extent. When released into the soil, this material is expected to have a half-life between 1 and 10 days. When released into water, this material is expected to readily biodegrade. When released into water, this material is not expected to evaporate significantly. When released into water, this material is expected to have a half-life between 10 and 30 days. This material has an estimated bioconcentration factor (BCF) of less than 100. This material is not expected to significantly bioaccumulate. When released into the air, this material is expected to be readily degraded by reaction with photochemically produced hydroxyl radicals. When released into the air, this material may be moderately degraded by photolysis. When released into the air, this material is expected to have a half-life of less than 1 day.
Environmental Toxicity:
This material is expected to be toxic to aquatic life. The LC50/96-hour values for fish are between 10 and 100 mg/l.”
Got your cart before your horse, didn’t you?
You mean the pH measurement of the water. Surely somebody put one of those strips in there and said “Hey!”
Like, *PING*, dudes.
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