The New Non-Mythical River Monster, Fertilizer?

            On The New York Times, one can find the article “Spill in China Underlines Environmental Concerns” by Edward Wong and was published on March 2, 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/world/asia/spill-in-china-lays-bare-environmental-concerns.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

            On December 31, 2012, a chemical spill from a fertilizer factory (in Changzhi) affected 28 villages, a handful of cities and more than one million people.  This region has suffered from drought for decades and now the little water that is left has been polluted by a faulty hose that leaked 39 tons of aniline into the Zhuozhang River.  This river feeds into the Zhang River that runs through the city Handan, where the officials were not notified until 5 days after the spill.  “Handan officials first got a tip about a potential spill on Jan. 4 from a water management agency upstream. But when they tried contacting Changzhi officials, there was no response.” The Changzhi officials were reluctant to talk to Handan officials regardless of environmental damage that could have been avoided if they had.

            In Changzhi their economy is based off this coal-to-chemical company as stated in the article “It is one of many companies in China’s booming coal-to-chemicals industry, in which a water-intensive gasification process is used to convert coal to chemicals that are critical for a wide range of products.” The company suffered no significant consequences due to the accident.  Large amounts of water are drawn in from the river that is used in turning coal into fertilizer, and the water fills a reservoir that is a basin of chemicals.  Larger factories will consume anywhere from 2,000-3,000 tons of water per hour, about 300,000 people use that much in a year.

            This spill sent dead fish floating down to Handan.  Farmers could not graze their livestock near rivers and tap water was shut off to residents.  These river ecosystems were terribly scarred by this accident.  Aquatic life suffered a great deal, food sources were poisoned by chemicals and they had to take in these chemicals through their gills.  Having no else to go most of the fish in the river died off.  Land animals such as cattle are going hungry.  The producers on the first trophic level have died off and cannot feed the fish.  The fish have all died off and cannot feed the cattle and the cattle can’t eat river side plants.  The trophic pyramid has crumbled starting with the death of the producers.  As the cattle started to become scarce humans, on the top trophic level lost their primary source of food, beef.  They were also not able to drink tap water because it was all contaminated by chemicals.  I take all the water I have for granted, drinking it, showering, lawn work etc., and people in Handan now have to scramble to get bottled water and put food on the table. 

            This reminds me of the B.P. oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Many species of animals and plants were almost destroyed and local fishing infrastructure was on the brink of doom.  Millions of gallons of oil leaked into the ocean and destroyed much of the life at trophic level one, producers, just like in Changzhi.  When trophic level one was on the brink of inhalation this choked out trophic level two, primary consumers. 

            I liked reading this article because I have never heard of this event.  It was probably not on the news because it did not affect the world globally and is in a remote part of China.  I like these kinds of articles because they get me thinking about my community.  We waste so much in the U.S. that is leaves so little for the rest of the world.  Even when I am umpiring baseball games for 4 or 6 consecutive hours I look at the fountains where I drink from.  So much water comes out of the spout, and so little goes into your mouth.  What does not go in your mouth leads off into the sewer system. 

            Why didn’t Changzhi officials notify Handan officials?  Wild life could have been preserved, jobs could have been saved.  Why was this information withheld?  Officials could have been proactive and kept a disaster from turning into a tragedy.  An entire ecosystem of river life was basically destroyed due to this, not because of the actual spill, but because people did not act.  It will be a very long time before the environment, community and industries can return to normal. 

 Picture courtesy of: www.greenprophet.com