Diesel leak triggers fear of contamination
- Source: Global Times
- [04:35 September 17 2009]
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By Song Shengxia
Ten tons of diesels spilled out from a pipeline in Liaocheng, Shandong Province early Tuesday, raising fears the fuel would contaminate crops and pollute the water supply.
The pipeline, which runs underground below a corn farm, burst at around 4 am and diesel poured into a 500-meter-long canal. The water in the canal is used to irrigate farmland, a local villager surnamed Wu told the Global Times.
"It's a big leak and many villagers were worried," Wu said.
Police and fire workers rushed to contain the leak and no injuries were reported.
It was unclear how the leak occurred and which company operates the pipeline.
The leak was later fixed, an official at the local fire brigade told the Global Times Wednesday, but the cause is under investigation.
"There were no casualties and the oil company has been informed to deal with the aftermath," said Tian Jipu from Liaocheng fire brigade. He declined to identify the oil company.
After word of the spill spread, hundreds of villagers rushed to the scene with containers to collect the diesel spilling into the canal.
"It was dangerous and could have caused a blast because most villagers used metal containers to scoop up oil and rolled containers to the roadside," said Tian.
Fire control, public security and work safety department workers went to the scene to evacuate villagers and persuaded them to return the oil to the company.
Local leaders were trying to contain the damage.
"Vice Mayor Bai Zhijian of the city arrived at the scene as promptly as possible to oversee the rescue efforts and make sure it won't cause widespread pollution," Wang Fangxin, a local government spokesman, told the Global Times.
However, nearby residents were concerned that the leak could contaminate drinking water and harm their crops.
"I'm afraid the oil might leak into the underground water and pollute the water we're drinking," Wu said.
The local environmental bureau assured people the pollution had not spread.
"The canal has been quarantined and the bureau is testing the quality of the underground water in the area," a worker at Liaocheng Environmental Bureau told the Global Times.
The worker admitted that the spill was big enough to possibly contaminate the crops on the farmland.
"The best thing is that it just rained recently and the ground is abundant with water which could deter some leakage of oil into underground water," he said.
