Chemical plant cut off water after complaints, say villagers
A mainland chemical factory owned by a Sino-US joint venture company has been accused of cutting off the water supply to more than 3,000 villagers after they complained the plant is polluting the environment.
Villagers said they had no fresh water for more than 40 days and were forced to walk to nearby villages to get supplies. The lack of water also killed their crops.
The Nanjing-based Modern Express newspaper reported that Nantong Jingang Fine Chemical, a company in Jiangsu that mainly produces organic chemicals, cut off the water supply to two villages after residents complained its factory was discharging pollutants into the Tongqi River.
A Nantong Jingang employee told the South China Morning Post the loss of water had nothing to do with the company.
Modern Express said the company had been given the right to use and control the villages' only water source, a well, by the local government in 1998. At the time, the local government owned a 21 per cent stake in the company.
Yan Weizhong , a resident in Hexinyu village, Jinhai town, confirmed to the Post that the water was cut off on May 25, after villagers' complaints to the environmental protection bureau.
'More than 3,000 residents in Hexinyu village and Yuye village had no fresh water. Residents had to walk more than 600 metres to ... collect water,' Mr Yan said. 'We took baths in a nearby river.' He said the lack of water caused crops to die, including about half of the village's watermelon plants.
The company employee said the valve controlling the water supply was open 24 hours. 'The cutting off of water in the village has nothing to do with us,' she said.
Mr Yan said residents tried to talk to the company but were refused. He complained to the local government many times but was always told the issue was being investigated. 'We could do nothing but wait for them to give us water.'
The company's website said it was founded in 1996 as a joint-stock enterprise established by the former Qidong Dye Chemical Factory and American Jinma International (Los Angeles). The Jinhai town government in Qidong city , held 21 per cent of shares of Nantong Jingang before October 2002, the newspaper reported.
The water supply was restored last Friday, while the complaints of water pollution remain unresolved.
Attempts to contact the US company were unsuccessful.
