The big environmental stories in the Chinese media this week (20-26 November)
The Emmy Award winning documentary Gasland (2010) described how tap water in some US homes caught fire. The film linked the flammable water to nearby hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking”, to get at natural gas reserves.
In the past few years, a few dozen residents in Panjin city, northeastern Liaoning province, have had the same fracking-related problem, China’s state broadcaster CCTV has said.
In a shocking video on China's social media, resident Ms Wang set ablaze her tap water by putting a lighter to it. “Some gas will appear after turning on the tap water… It feels like oil sticking to your hands after washing,” she told CCTV.
Although the residents had made complaints to the local water company and government, the problem remained unsolved and unexplained for years.
In an interview, the head of the local water supply service station confirmed they had noticed gas in the water a long time ago. Without knowing if it was harmful, they continued to supply water.
On 22 November, the same day Wang’s video went viral, the local district government launched an investigation and shut down the water well. Two days later, the government claimed the flame was caused by a small amount of natural gas that had leaked into the groundwater and then been extracted and supplied to residents. The problem was due to water temporarily being extracted directly from the ground, while a storage device at the local water station undergoes expansion work, it added. This appeared to contradict the residents' claims that the issue had lasted for at least two years. The government pledged those responsible would be held accountable.
Lioahe, one of China's largest domestic oil fields is located in Panjin. On the official website of Liaohe Oilfield, a subsidiary of the state-owned PetroChina, the company says they have been fracking while drilling for oil.
Gasland sparked fears of the potential danger of fracking. But different scientific studies have produced different results. Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development, an NGO representing the oil and gas industry, cites a few studies showing that fracking could not be linked to contaminated groundwater. The culprit was most likely “compromised well casings”, one study stated.
In 2011, a study by Duke University found the type of methane gas in drinking water wells linked to closed natural gas wells: “Our results ... suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide.”
Read our article on the controversy of earthquakes linked to fracking in China.
(Sources: China Dialogue)
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