South China Morning Post
January 17, 2002

China’s State Environmental Protection Administration wants local authorities to report environmental accidents within an hour so it can better inform the public of impending disasters.

(Excerpt)

China’s top green watchdog wants local authorities to promptly report environmental accidents so it can better inform the public of impending disasters, Kristine Kwok reports in today’s South China Morning Post. The State Environmental Protection Administration said yesterday it had received 45 reports of accidents between Nov. 13, when a toxic spill in the Songhua River started to affect water supplies in the northeast, and Feb. 1. A statement posted on SEPA’s website highlighted six serious incidents, the SCMP reports:

• a cadmium leak from a smelting factory into Guangdong’s Bei River on Dec. 15;
• phenol contamination by a petrochemical plant in Liaoning’s Hun River between Dec. 24 and 29;
• pollution of Guangxi’s Honghe;
• a zinc leak from a Zhuzhou Smelter Group plant into Hunan’s Xiang River;
• diesel oil pollution of the Yellow River from a power plant in Gongyi city, Henan;
• a petrol slick in Jiangxi’s Gon River triggered by a ferry blaze last month.