Polluting Aluminum Manufacturer Plagues Hunan Farmers

Image/ecns.cn

Taoyuan County, Hunan Province

A scandal-plagued aluminum manufacturer in Taoyuan county, Central China's Hunan province, is suspected of dumping nearly one thousand tons of untreated waste near villages on the top of a mountain, Beijing News reported.

Villagers told the newspaper the company had secretly buried waste containing fluoride on the top of Baima Mountain, polluting the underground water supply and threatening 300 mu (around 185,000m2) of farmland.  

Locals have regularly reported the pollution problem to government departments, but received little response until local media began reporting on related environmental damage.

The company has since started collecting waste from the mountain.

Farmers living near the mountain said they dare not eat the rice they have grown for fear of pollution.

It is also reported that more than a dozen people have developed cancer due to fluoride associated with the company's aluminum processing projects.


News Resource