Authorities in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, said that the unit
responsible for a fuel spill in Dianchi Lake would be fined not
more than 100,000 yuan (US$12,639.7), Beijing News reported
yesterday.
More than 13 hectares of water area in Dianchi Lake -- the
largest freshwater lake on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau -- was
polluted on Tuesday by fuel released by an engineering ship on a
mission to clean up the lake.
The Dianchi administration bureau in Kunming immediately
launched an investigation.
"When we reached the lake, the surface was covered with diesel.
It reflected in the sunshine and showed the color of rainbow,"
Zhang Liangping, one director of the Dianchi administration bureau,
told China National Radio (CNR).
The CNR report said Tuesday's spill was one of the most serious
accidents in Dianchi Lake.
The ships working on the lake are required to be equipped with a
facility to separate fuel oil from water. However, the ship
responsible for the accident lacked this equipment and directly
discharged diesel into the lake.
Further investigation is still underway by local environmental
authorities.
For the past few days, the city has experienced rain and wind,
which made dealing with the spilled oil on the surface difficult.
Besides making efforts to clean up the oil, the department is also
looking for floating fuel being pushed along the lake's surface by
the wind. So far, they have made no progress.
"Large amounts of fuel will seriously destroy the ecosystem of
Dianchi Lake," Wang Yong, vice director of Dianchi fishing
supervision department, told CNR.
"On the one hand, the waste oil, as organic material, will
strengthen the current pollution; on the other hand, the layer of
fuel will create a barrier between the air and water, which will
harm aquatic life."
Currently, about 130 such ships are working on the lake to clear
up silt.
In order to prevent repeated cases and protect the lake, local
authorities decided to halt the operation of such ships next
year.
The Dianchi Lake, one of the most famous sightseeing spots on
the plateau, became polluted in the late 1970s. Since the 1990s,
pollution has become worse, increasingly tarnishing the beauty of
the lake.
China listed the lake as one of the three key lakes in dire need
of pollution prevention and regulation. So far, the country has
invested more than 4 billion yuan (US$505.6 million) into improving
the ecosystem of the lake. The municipal government of Kunming has
also invested more than 1 billion yuan (US$126.4 million) in
treating the lake.
(China Daily October 14, 2006)