Wed, December 10, 2008
HEFEI, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- A river channel in two provinces in east and central China has been closed off and environmental authorities are building dams to prevent its arsenic polluted water from running downstream.
The Dashahe River's Zaoji section in Henan Province showed excessive levels of arsenic as a result of waste water illegally dumped by chemical factories in Shangqiu City.
On Wednesday, Su Mingsheng, a Bozhou City Environmental Protection Bureau official, said no residents or livestock had been poisoned.
Four branches of the Huaihe River in Bozhou City, Anhui Province, which link to the Dashahe River, had also been polluted by the chemical.
A sluice has been closed to prevent the pollution from spreading. Su said dams had also been built.
So far, about three million cubic meters of arsenic polluted river water had been dammed. Environmental authorities said they are working on absorbing the chemical from the water.
According to the Bozhou City government, drinking water was safe. No arsenic was detected in wells 50 meters from the Xiaohonghe River in Bozhou, the city's environmental monitoring station said.
Arsenic is a toxic chemical. If digested, it can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, as well as kidney, liver and lung problems. In extreme cases people can die.
