(June 5, 2001) The general manager of a chemical company accused of leaking 2,000 tons of alkaline wastewater into a river in Shaanxi province has been removed from his post a local environmental protection watchdog announced yesterday.

Wang Zengzhan, general manager of Jintai Chlorine and Alkaline Chemical Co Ltd in Mizhi County, Yulin City of Shaanxi Province, was removed from his post on Friday following a decision by company officials, according to the Yulin City Environmental Protection Bureau. Other company employees responsible for the accident will also face punishment as an investigation wraps up, sources with the bureau said. The chemical company was ordered to suspend operations and take measures to renovate its wastewater discharge system within a set time limit. The spill occurred on February 4 when three of the company’s processing tanks collapsed, discharging about 2,000 tons of alkaline waste into the Wuding River. Several processing tanks had shown signs of leakage 10 days prior to the incident, but the company failed to report the problem to local environmental protection officials, the bureau said. The Wuding River was badly polluted, but the spill did not seriously affect the quality of tap water, the bureau said. The incident follows a number of spills in recent months, the most serious being an explosion at a chemical plant in November that dumped chemicals into the Songhua River, the source of tap water for tens of millions of people living in northeastern China and Russia.

Shanghai Daily, June 5, 2001