Water supply unharmed by spill

The cleanup of a fuel leak from a bunker that sunk Friday was near completion Sunday evening, when local maritime authorities assured residents that Shanghai's water supply had not been impacted by the spill.

Local authorities added that the likelihood of encountering contamination was unlikely, given that the spill - the amount for which was undisclosed - occurred downstream from the city's largest water reserve, Qingcaosha reservoir.

However, authorities took no chances, sending out some 47 ships and 686 workers since Saturday to clean up the leak discovered Saturday morning, the night after nine crew members were rescued from the bunker's ship.

Several real-time monitoring stations have also been placed along the inlet leading to Qingcaosha reservoir, which is located at the northwest end of Changxing Island, almost 20 kilometers from the spill. Manual testing is further being carried out each hour to ensure water safety, said authorities.

"We've been carrying out round-the-clock monitoring; the water quality has been fine both inside and outside the reservoir, and we expect the quality to remain as is," Shen Yichen, general manager of Shanghai Chengtou Raw Water Company, which oversees Qingcaosha reservoir, told Shanghai Television Station Sunday.

The leakage was found Saturday around 8 am, the morning after a crew was rescued by local maritime authorities.

Crew members of Tongyin 6 were helped off their ship by rescue officers on Friday, shortly before 9 pm, when strong winds and rough waves at Wusongkou, where the Huangpu River meets the Yangtze River, had threatened their safety. Due to the dangerous conditions, their ship was left to salvage the next morning, when authorities discovered the leak.

Emergency measures were immediately taken to suspend operations at Qingcaosha reservoir on Changxing Island, while nearby Baoshan district's Chenhang and Baogang reservoirs were also shut briefly, according to authorities.

Local authorities further assured the public Sunday, saying that even if the water supply is found to be contaminated, the city is able to meet the demands of residents while the situation is managed.

Without taking in a new supply of fresh water, Qingcaosha reservoir, which supplies about 70 percent of the city's drinking water, is capable of maintaining a clean water supply for up to 56 days - and currently has 20 days worth of drinking water, said authorities.

Officially up and running at full steam last year, Qingcaosha reservoir, which supplies water for 13 million people, was forced to suspend operations in February, when a South Korean cargo ship leaked phenol into the Yangtze River from neighboring Jiangsu Province.