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Yellow River oil spill
Yellow River oil spill
Location	Weinan, Shaanxi, China
Coordinates	34°36′42″N 110°17′20″E / 34.6117°N 110.289°E
Date	30 December 2009
Cause
Cause	Rupture of the Lanzhou-Zhengzhou oil pipeline
Operator	China National Petroleum Corporation
Spill characteristics
Volume	150,000 L (40,000 US gal)
Shoreline impacted	> 100 km

The Yellow River oil spill was an oil spill in the Yellow River in Shaanxi, China which took place due to the rupturing of a segment of Lanzhou-Zhengzhou oil pipeline on December 30, 2009. Approximately 150,000 L (40,000 US gal) of diesel oil flowed down the Wei River before finally reaching the Yellow River, the source of drinking water for millions of people, on January 4, 2010.^[1]^[2]

Background

The Lanzhou-Zhengzhou oil pipeline project was approved in 2007 and opened for operation in March 2009. It is a part of the 2,070 km (1,290 mi)-long Lanzhou-Zhengzhou-Changsha pipeline with a capacity of transporting 15 million tons of oil per year.^[3] According to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the rupture took place on December 30, 2009 due to an accident near Weinan where construction was underway by third-party workers.^[2] However, the incident was not publicized until January 3, 2010.^[4] The deputy director of the Yellow River Water Resources Commission called for an investigation into the accident, refuting CNPC's claim that the accident was caused by third-party construction workers.^[5]

Spill control efforts

About 150,000 litres of diesel had already leaked out before the pipeline was closed by CNPC. According to Pacific Environment China's co-director Wen Bo, 700 workers were quickly mobilized by the government to control the spill as soon as its occurrence became known.^[2] They dug diversion channels and built floating dams to stop the pollutant from advancing further downstream. Solidifying chemicals were also used to remove the fuel from the stream.^[6] Despite these efforts, officials found traces of diesel in the Yellow River on January 4, 2010, 200 km upstream of Zhengzhou.^[1] No pollution was detected downstream of Sanmenxia, although the Sanmenxia reservoir was found to contain traces of toxic diesel.^[7] Sanmenxia Dam and its six hydroelectric generators were shut down to prevent the flow of pollutant further downstream.^[8] On 5 January, Zhang Xun, an official of the Ministry of Environmental Protection confirmed that the spill had been contained in the Sanmenxia reservoir and was no longer a threat to the river water downstream.^[9]^[10]