April 21, 2014
Cancer-Inducing Chemical Found In Chinese City's Drinking Water
중국 도시 식수에서 발견된 암 유발 화학물질
By Sara Jerome
중국 서부의 도시는 심각한 벤젠 오염과 사투 중인데, 분석가들은 이것은 국가의 수돗물의 수질 관련 과제 중 하나 이상의 신호라고 말한다.
란저우(난주)의 주민들은 "당국이 도시의 식수가 국가 안전기준보다 20배 이상의 암 유발 화학물질인 벤젠을 포함한다고 말한 후에 생수를 구입하기 위해 돌진했다."고 로이터는 전했다.
기사에 따르면, 시에서는 이러한 위협을 완화하기 위해서 노력했다고 전했다. 로이터에 따르면 현지 당국의 진술에서는 "란저우는 오염된 물을 공급하는 파이프를 차단했고, 벤젠을 흡수하는 활성탄을 풀었다."고 전한다.
수도청은 빠르게 오염의 근원을 파악했다. Lanzhou Veolia Water는 성명에서 "초기연구에서는 침전 공장에서 수처리 공장으로 원수가 이동하는 두 개의 지하배수로 중 하나에서, 산업적 오염에 의한 발생된 벤젠의 높은 수치를 나타냈다."라고 말했다.
BBC뉴스에 따르면, 주 미디어는 도시 관계자가 중국 국립 석유 공사의 자회사가 소유한 석유가 누출되는 파이프라인이 원인이라고 전했다.
(이하생략)
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원문
As a city in western China fights severe benzene contamination, analysts say it is one more sign of the country's challenges with tap water quality.
Residents in the Lanzhou "rushed to buy bottled water [on April 11] after authorities said the city's drinking water contained levels of benzene, a cancer-inducing chemical, standing at 20 times above national safety levels," Reuters reported.
The city worked to mitigate the threat, the report said. "Lanzhou has shut down the contaminated water supply pipe and deployed activated carbon to absorb the benzene," local authorities said in a statement, per Reuters.
The water utility quickly figured out the source of the contamination. "Initial investigation showed the high levels of benzene were caused by industrial contamination at one of the two culverts that transfer raw water from a sedimentation plant to the water treatment plant," Lanzhou Veolia Water said in a statement.
The state media said city officials blamed a leaky oil pipeline owned by a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation, BBC News reported.
Lanzhou Veolia is majority-owned by the city government. The French company Veolia Environnement holds a 45-percent stake, Reuters said.
The big picture: "The scare has once again raised concerns over China's environmental safety record," the report said.
"Last year, a ruptured oil pipeline caused explosions in the eastern city of Qingdao, killing 62 people. And in January 2012, toxic cadmium and other waste from factories contaminated water supplies serving millions of people in the south western region of Guangxi," the report said.
In the U.S., the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for benzene is 0.005 milligrams per Liter (mg/L) or 5 parts per billion (ppb), according to the EPA.
China faces an uphill battle when it comes to water quality.
"For visitors, China’s water problem becomes apparent upon entering the hotel room. The smell of a polluted river might emanate from the showerhead. Need to quench your thirst? The drip from the tap is rarely potable. Can you trust the bottled water? Many Chinese don’t," the New York Times reported.
"Measured by the government’s own standards, more than half of the country’s largest lakes and reservoirs were so contaminated in 2011 that they were unsuitable for human consumption," the report said.
For case studies and white papers, check out Water Online's Contaminant Removal Solution Center
Image credit: "Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico June 26, 2010," (C) 2010 NASA Goddard Photo and Video, used under an Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
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