Half of China's chemical plants pose risks

BEIJING, July 12 (Reuters) Nearly half of China's chemical and petrochemical plants pose serious environmental risks, the country's environmental watchdog said, months after an explosion at a plant poisoned drinking water for millions.

In an environmental risk survey of 7,555 chemical and petrochemical plants nationwide, 45 percent were found to be sources of ''grave environmental risks'', the State Environmental Protection Administration said on its Web site yesterday.

About 81 percent of the total were located along rivers or densely populated areas, the administration added.

''Our chemical and petrochemical industries pose grave risks to the environment -- the key reason for an increase in the number of water pollution incidents last year,'' the vice minister of environmental protection, Pan Yue, was quoted as saying.

Cities throughout China are choking with car exhaust and factory pollution and many of its rivers are poisoned, but a government drive to clean up the environment has attracted more attention since an explosion at a chemical plant in the northeastern province of Jilin last November.

The blast poured cancer-causing benzene compounds into the Songhua river, cut off water supplies for millions and sent a toxic slick towards the Russian border.

The Chinese government has spent billions of yuan on cleaning up the country's rivers, but analysts have warned of more problems to come.

''These risks, caused by the unreasonable layouts of factories in the past decades, cannot be solved in a short period of time, but can only be repaired through intensifying environmental protection preventive measures and upgrading industry structures,'' Pan was quoted as saying.

REUTERS VA KP0838