Tons of oil spills into Luohe River

Villagers build a makeshift dam to stop the leaked oil sludge from flowing further into the Luohe River on Thursday. Huang Xianming / for china daily
Ground collapse at Shaanxi sewage treatment plant to blame: Officials

Some 1,000 tons of oil sludge spilled from a sewage treatment plant has contaminated Luohe River in Luochuan county of Northwest China\’s Shaanxi province, local officials said on Friday.

The Luohe River is a tributary of the Yellow River, referred to as the "Mother River" in China because it is the water source for millions of people.

Wang Xirong, deputy magistrate of Luochuan county, told China Daily that on Sunday morning, an oil sludge recycling pool at a sewage treatment plant in Yan\’an city collapsed, sending some 1,000 tons of oil sludge flowing, with some going into the Luohe River.

The oil spill is the second river pollution incident to hit the province in three months, after the Yellow River was contaminated by a diesel fuel leak in early January.

Zhang Xun, deputy director of emergency office under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, who is leading a team to deal with the incident, has demanded the decontamination be finished within five days.

"We should try every way to stop the contamination source from going out of Yan\’an," he said.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang has instructed local authorities to ensure the safety of the drinking water downstream of the river.

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