国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Business / Green China

Protect water sources

(China Daily) Updated: 2014-04-14 07:13

The contamination of drinking water in the city of Lanzhou as a result of a crude oil leak is horrible, but what is even more terrifying are the potential threats this accident revealed to the safety of drinking water in this northwestern provincial capital, and maybe in other cities.

The hazardous chemical benzene in the water works was first discovered on Thursday, but the warning was not given until 18 hours later and neither was the contaminated water source isolated until then. If it was not bureaucracy that caused the delay, it must have been problems with the mechanism in place to timely inform citizens of any danger that their drinking water might pose to their health.

Protect water sources
Pricing for a blue revolution 

Protect water sources
The canal transporting water from the Yellow River to the city's water works was built 60 years ago and should have been renovated a long time ago. And since chemical pipelines from the nearby petrochemical plant cross underneath the canal, work should have been done to prevent the water from being contaminated should the pipes leak.

If the designers and decision-makers had fully taken into consideration the safety of the drinking water, they would not have placed the petrochemical plant so near to the canal. Neither would they have let the oil pipelines be laid underneath the canal.

In 2005, an explosion in a chemical plant in Jilin resulted in benzene contaminating the water in the Songhuajiang River. Then the central government required all chemical plants to identify any safety hazards that existed in their facilities and pipelines. The explosion of an oil pipeline in the city of Qingdao in Nov 22 last year claimed 62 lives and injured 136 people, which prompted the central government to further stress the importance of pipeline safety.

Had the petrochemical plant done what the central government required and identified the hazard, the accident in Lanzhou could have possibly been prevented.

Managing the drinking water for their residents is a test of the governing capability of a city government. Such management involves the specific task of making sure polluting industrial projects are not close to water sources. Good management also requires that the water be tested regularly to make sure that it is safe to drink. There should also be warning mechanisms in place to inform residents of any water contamination in a timely manner.

The Lanzhou government has obviously failed this test.

Other cities should learn the lessons from Lanzhou and make sure they protect their drinking water sources from contamination.

Hot Topics

Editor's Picks
...
赣州市| 万全县| 绥棱县| 宜城市| 济源市| 上高县| 浑源县| 乌恰县| 龙门县| 富阳市| 洪雅县| 富阳市| 镇原县| 平阴县| 临漳县| 达州市| 化德县| 喀什市| 云霄县| 武定县| 五常市| 高要市| 阿荣旗| 紫金县| 赤峰市| 海口市| 佛学| 桐乡市| 建水县| 吉林省| 阆中市| 沁水县| 宜昌市| 永寿县| 三河市| 淮滨县| 水城县| 车致| 肥东县| 扶绥县| 华坪县|