A huge cleanup and investigation is underway in Shanghai following a petrochemical leak at Jueshi Port which has also caused severe air and river pollution to the local Jinshan and Songjiang districts.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the incident last week was caused by improper loading procedures. Apparently port workers failed to fully shut down a valve while loading C9 onto a cargo ship resulting in the spill, which has effectively closed two drinking water plants.
The China Daily says that four people have been taken into custody over their alleged involvement with the spill and that three companies involved in the spill were found to have “broken regulations pertaining to the sale, transport and loading of the chemical.”
There is also the suggestion that the incident may have been an illegal chemical waste dump. According to the Global Times, the cause of the incident was “illegal dumping” by a tank truck from a local logistics company.
Meanwhile, four temporary locations have been set up to supply residents with bottled water. There are reportedly many local authority vessels involved in the clean-up and a dam has been set up on the Huangpu River to prevent the contaminates spreading.
A large scale investigation and environmental evaluation by the Shanghai government are underway, but David Lammie from Yangtze Business Services warns that it will take some time to get the initial findings back.
