9000000 people without water in China

hisz.rsoe.hu... s_id=ED-20130106-37743-CHN

Residents in a northern Chinese city are without water after the local government cut off the supply because of industrial chemicals that contaminated a river. The Handan city government in Hebei province says it cut off the water Saturday afternoon after an accident in neighboring Shanxi province caused pollutants to pour into a river. It didn’t say how many residents were affected. The population of the city and its rural areas is 9 million. Sunday that a loose drainage valve in a chemical plant was to blame for the leaking of nearly 9 tons of the chemical aniline into the river. It said another 30 tons of aniline have been contained in a disused reservoir. Aniline, used in manufacturing polyurethane, can be toxic to humans

This is very concerning. How do you get approximately 9 million people clean water now? Can this evaporate and become air-born???


en.wikipedia.org...

Aniline is toxic by inhalation of the vapour, ingestion, or percutaneous absorption.[19][20] The IARC lists it in Group 3 (not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans) due to the limited and contradictory data available. The early manufacture of aniline resulted in increased incidents of bladder cancer, but these effects are now attributed to naphthylamines, not anilines.[1]

scary stuff. 9 million!!? I hope they get this sorted.

It is a bad situation and a logistical nightmare, but some credit to turning of the taps and not poisoning the population. I expect a lot of working going on to fix this as soon as possible, good luck.

reply to post by Jerisa


I don't understand why factories are still allowed to dump chemicals into rivers and lakes, there's an old biblical phrase that says "Don't spit in the well you're drinking from". I thought we know better than this. Apparently not even close.

Very sad story.

It doesn't say how many resident are affected, lets say its only a small percentage, well a small percentage of 9 million is still an awful lot. To be without water and to be in good health you have a good chance, but what about the eldery, children and the sick?

reply to post by Jerisa


Explanation: Fixed broken link ...

Environment Pollution in China on Sunday, 06 January, 2013 at 07:13 (07:13 AM) UTC. [hisz.rsoe.hu]

And to get us started ...

Hebei (province) [wiki]

Hebei (help·info) (Chinese: 河北; pinyin: Héběi; Postal map spelling: Hopeh) is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "冀" (jì), named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province (zhou) that included what is now southern Hebei. The name Hebei means "north of the river", referring to its location completely above the Yellow River.[2]

In 1928, Hebei was formed after the central government dissolved the province of Chih-li (直隸), which means "Directly Ruled (by the Imperial Court)".

Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities, which border each other, were carved out of Hebei. The province borders Liaoning to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the north, Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, and Shandong to the southeast. Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea is to the east. A small part of Hebei, an exclave disjointed from the rest of the province, is wedged between the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.

A common alternate name for Hebei is Yānzhào (燕趙), after the state of Yan and state of Zhao that existed here during the Warring States Period of early Chinese history.

It seems the river may be the 'yellow river' but I have yet to confirm this as fact.

Personal Disclosure: I feel that the 9 tons of pollutant that leaked into the river needs to be accounted for 1st.

Which river?

Whats the volume of flow for this river /hr?

How far downstream could the contaminants be by now?

Are there any other populated areas downstream that will be affected by this EPIC FAIL!?

What can be done now to provide clean drinking water for such a huge population [almost half australias population ] ???

My 1st thought is that I just recently today emptied a 9ltr plastic bucket full of 8ltr's of water that dripped out of the airconditioning unit over a 4hr period.

Now it is summer in Australia and I was using my a/c to seriously cool the house down to 18C in a very hot and humid climate ... so I have no clue if this is worthwhile when China is experienceing winter ... but 9million people without water is desparate and I just mention it in the off chance that it may safe lives.

Since it is winter ... maybe snow could be mined?

reply to post by OmegaLogos


Looks like the Hutuo River...

maps.google.ca...,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.dmQ&bpcl=40 096503&biw=1280&bih=845&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=iHfpUMD5Nsmy0QG8qYBY&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAA

Explanation: More info ...

The city ...

Handan [wiki]

Hándān (simplified Chinese: 邯郸; traditional Chinese: 邯鄲) is a prefecture-level city located in the southwestern part of Hebei Province of China. It borders Xingtai on the north, Shanxi province on the west, Henan province on the south and Shandong province on the east.

I am still unsure if this is the river in question? ...

Yellow River [wiki]

The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly spelled Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China after the Yangtze and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of 5,464 kilometers (3,395 mi). Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River basin has an east-west extent of 1900 km (1,180 mi) and a north-south extent of 1100 km (684 mi). Its total basin area is 742,443 km² (290,520 mi²).

The Yellow River is called "the cradle of Chinese civilization" as its basin – specifically, the Wei valley that cuts across the long Ordos loop – was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilizations and the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. However, frequent devastating floods and course changes produced by the continual elevation of the river bed, sometimes above the level of its surrounding fields has also earned it the unenviable names "China's Sorrow" and "Scourge of the Sons of Han."

Personal Disclosure: Since Handan is inland I am sure they wont be the only ones affected!

reply to post by Jerisa


Explanation: I forgot to mention I S&F! in my 1st post ... + another St*r

I concur that it is the Hutuo River!



Its not quite visible on that screengrab .. but it is there!

Here is the fixed link to there on google maps ...

Hadan + more [maps.google.ca]

I counted these towns down stream from Hadan ...

Gaocheng

Jinzhou

Wuji

Shenze

Anping

Raoyang

Xianxian

Qingxian

Bohia Bay

It may affect ... Tianjin another major city.

What info I could find on that river at a moments notice was ...

The Hutuo River [wiki86.com]

The Hutuo River, rises in theShanxi ProvinceFanshi County Mountain Tai.Gu VillageArea, east to Hebei ProvinceXianxian CountyZang bridge and the river another tributary of Fuyang Department of the sea. A total length of 587 kilometers,Watershed area27300 square kilometers.

Chinese name: The Hutuo River
Alias: Hu pool
Administrative categories: Shanxi Province
The district of: China North China
Geographic location: Shanxi province Fanshi County Thai drama Hill Village
The measure of area. 27300 square kilometers
Climate conditions: Temperate continental monsoon climate
Famous attractions: The Hutuo River green corridor

Personal Disclosure: Seems there is a railway nearby and that may be used to temporarily transport people where there is water .. or it can be used to bring in clean fresh water in large volumes!

Category: Rail transport in Hebei (various) [wiki]

Simple. Bottled water.

It is available in every corner shop, street vendor and supermarket and is drunk by most people in China.

Surprised by the speed of action though.

Not sure about the river in question, but a lot of the smaller rivers in Northern China have seen a drastic reduction in flow over the last 10 or so years (This was a comment made by a local, to me a few years ago.), due to industrialisation I think.

Explanation: It has just occured to me that they could build a short pipeline to the river above where the contamination occured [the chemical plant] and hence get 'cleaner and less contaminated' water.

Personal Disclosure: That should solve the issue for the minimum of cost and prevent future issues with this very large and heavily populated city.

I hope this info helps saves lives!

reply to post by Jerisa


Very good example of how the masses are at the mercy of the Govt. and the power they have at their finger tips.

Wanna start a revolution? Too bad. We're cutting off your water.

Or....Drink up, it's all good. Trust us. We would never put anything in the water supply of 9 mil people...really.

Done.

Peace