VIEWPOINT pubs.acs.org/est
Chromium Contamination Accident in China: Viewing Environment Policy of China Yang Gao* and Jun Xia Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
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hromium (Cr) is the second most abundant inorganic groundwater contaminant at hazardous waste sites. Due to the difference in the toxic nature of both the forms of Cr, the discharge of Cr (VI) into surface water is regulated to below 0.05 mg L 1 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, whereas the total Cr (including Cr(III), Cr(VI) and its other forms) is regulated to below 2 mg L 1.1 Since Cr(VI) is known to be very mobile and hazardous to human health through inhalation, skin contact, and ingestion, being highly toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic to living organisms, even when present in very low concentrations in water. Cr compounds released into the environment have been increasing continuously as a result of industrial activities and technological developments, posing a significant threat to the environment and public health because of their toxicity, accumulation in the food chain and persistence in nature.2,3 Cr(VI) contaminates through various industrial processes such as electroplating, metal finishing, leather, mining, petroleum refining, wood preservation, corrosion inhibition in power plants and nuclear facilities, manufacturing of pigments, dyes, textiles, carpets, magnetic tapes, jet aircrafts, refractory materials, etc. In spite of the fact that the industry is constantly looking for efficient and innovative routes for chromium recovery or detoxification, large amounts of such soil and wastewater r 2011 American Chemical Society
are still released to the environment, throughout the world, every year. China is the largest amount of Cr slag produced country, and there are about 25 enterprises producing Cr salts, of which the annual production capacities reach 329,000 tons and the annual discharges of Cr slag reach 450 000 tons. The storage of untreated Cr slag in past years has exceeded 400 million tons.4 In China, there are strict environmental regulations on Cr wastes treatment, which require all of Cr wastes must be through harmless treatment before released to environment and every disposal process on Cr wastes must be registered and can be traced. However, on August 13th, 2011, serious Cr slag contamination accident occurred in Qujing in Yunan province. The reason on this accident was due to the amount of 5000 tons of untreated Cr slag, produced by Lvliang Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., was illegally dumped into mountains and Nanpan River located at the source of Zhujian River (Figure 1). The contamination accident lead to the over standard of Cr (VI) concentration detected in Nanpan River was about 2000 times. As government involved in the investigation, they found that there were about 288 400 tons Cr slag piled at the back door of the chemical industry without any other treatment, which there was only one meter distance to Nanpan River. From 1989 to 2005, the storage of Cr slag in the chemical industry has increased to 288400 tons, whereas this industry took no any other detoxification treatment in order to saving treatment cost. Therefore, two drivers were employed by the chemical industry to dump the Cr slag into nearby mountains and reservoirs. With Cr pollution enlarges and media reports, local environment protection department and police arrested the two drivers and close the chemical industry rapidly. However, the effects of Cr slag on ecology, environment and health will last for many years. The Xinrong village is the nearest village to the chemical industry, which is also called “dead village”. According to the villagers’ description, there were at least six to seven people living in this village who died of cancer. Meanwhile, in this village, a total of 77 cows and sheep suddenly died due to drinking Cr polluted water. Although the truths on Cr slag contamination were gradually disclosed, it also leads to a crisis of public confidence. According to the investigation results on the accident, we found that on June 12, 2011, the environmental protection department in Qujing has received an accusation on Cr slag pollution from this chemical industry, whereas the local government opened the processing results on this accident until August 13, 2011. We have enough Received: August 24, 2011 Published: September 19, 2011 8605
dx.doi.org/10.1021/es203101f | Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 8605–8606
Environmental Science & Technology
VIEWPOINT
Dr. Chiyuan Miao in Beijing Normal University to give us references and enlightenment. Opinions in the paper only reflect the personal views of the authors. This research was supported by Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-QN408), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40901098) and the National Basic Research Program of China (B000800901).
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
*Phone/fax: +86-10-64889011; e-mail:
[email protected];
[email protected]. Figure 1. The river polluted by Cr slag produced by Lvliang Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. and the water color has become yellow.
reason to believe that if there was no media report, the local government would never open the truth to people. The event also reflect that the ecology, environment, and human health are insignificant when compared to economic development in eye's local governments in China, and local officials do not hesitate to suppress the truth in order to hold their official position. In recent years, Chinese people have gradually become accustomed to the significant contamination accidents and resulting deaths. It is very very worrisome that people and government sacrifice environment, life, and health in order to obtain economic development. When public awareness is ignored by government, environmental protection in China is only a mirage. Why does the local government conceal the truth without considering environment and public safety? Currently, government officials are rewarded for actions that increase economic growth, and not only is there no reward for environmental protection, there are indirect penalties when efforts to protect the environment slow economic growth. Instead, officials must be rewarded for efforts to harmonize socioeconomic development with protection of the environment; in some of the most severely endangered areas of the country, it may even be necessary to shift the balance wholly toward rewarding environmental protection. This will create a favorable sociopolitical environment in which officials feel comfortable making and enforcing policies and laws that are oriented toward sustainable development. China’s progress toward environmental sustainability remains difficult, with negative factors currently outweighing positive ones. Given its increasing global economic and environmental importance, China must clearly accept a more active leadership role in steering the world into a sustainable future. The current situation is such that China’s overall environmental conditions will continue to grow worse before they improve. China’s efforts have the potential to enrich the world and show other nations how to achieve sustainability through its institutional, scientific, and technological innovations. If these plans are carefully implemented, we have every reason to look forward to more sustainable prospects for China.
’ REFERENCES (1) Baral, A.; Engelken, R. D. Chromium-based regulations and greening in metal finishing industries in the USA. Environ. Sci. Policy 2002, 5, 121–133. (2) Gavrilescu, M. Removal of heavy metals from the environment by biosorption a review. Eng. Life Sci. 2004, 4, 219–232. (3) Gao, Y.; Miao, C. Y.; Mao, L.; Zhou, P.; Jin, Z. G.; Shi, W. J. Improvement of phytoextraction and antioxidative defense in Solanum nigrum L. under cadmium stress by application of cadmium-resistant strain and citric acid. J. Hazard. Mater. 2010, 181, 771–777. (4) Chromium Slays Pollution Control and Environmental Protection Technical Specifications; State Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), 2007.
’ ACKNOWLEDGMENT We are grateful to Dr. Yafeng Wang in State Key Laboratory of Urban, Dr. Shixiong Cao in Beijing Forestry University and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences and 8606
dx.doi.org/10.1021/es203101f |Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 8605–8606
