Chemical spill pollutes China reservoir

BEIJING --A chemical spill in a northwestern Chinese river polluted a reservoir serving at least 100,000 residents for two days until water quality returned to normal Sunday, local officials said.

A tanker truck loaded with 25 tons of liquid caustic soda -- colorless, transparent corrosive liquid that rapidly burns skin and eyes -- fell into a river three miles away from the Xuefeng reservoir in a city within the municipality of Weinan in Shaanxi province Friday, a city official said.

The reservoir is one of four drinking water sources for Hancheng, a city of 400,000 people, and it serves approximately 100,000 residents, said a man who answered the phone at the Hancheng city government and only gave his surname, Wang.

Cleanup crews had built a dam at the site of the spill while the city ordered its residents not to use water from the reservoir and river, Wang said.

Ten tons of hydrochloric acid from the provincial capital of Xi'an was poured into the river to neutralize the contaminated water, he said. Liquid caustic soda is also known as sodium hydroxide.

By Sunday, water quality was returned to normal and residents were allowed to draw from the reservoir, Wang said, adding a spare well activated after the spill was no longer being used.

One of the tanker truck's passengers was killed on the spot while another was seriously burnt after the vehicle slipped on a wet road and fell into the river, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Most of China's canals, rivers and lakes are severely tainted by industrial, agricultural and household pollution.

Last November, a major chemical spill on the Songhua River halted water supplies to tens of millions in China and Russia. Local authorities were accused of reacting too slowly and delaying public disclosure of the spill.