Wednesday, July 12 2006 11:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Forty-five percent of China's chemical and petrochemical plants pose major environmental hazards, says the country's state-run green agency.

In an environmental risk survey on 7,555 such plants, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said 81 percent of the plants were located along rivers and lakes or in densely populated areas.

It warned that if effective measures were not taken, the trend of surging environmental accidents would go unchecked.

The survey was conducted in the wake of the major pollution of the Songhua river caused by a chemical plant explosion in northeast China's Jilin province in November.

The polluting chemicals threatened the water supply for millions of residents along the river and alerted the central government on the high environmental risks of chemical and petro-chemical plants in the country.

The survey showed that 1,354 of the surveyed plants were located along rivers, lakes and the coast and around reservoirs while 2,489 were close to cities or in densely populated areas.

"Most plants are located in environmentally sensitive areas without precautionary mechanism to prevent the outbreak of pollution. This accounts for the soaring incidents of water pollution," said Pan Yue, deputy director of SEPA.

From January to April 2006, SEPA received reports of 49 pollution incidents from 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Thirteen were serious ones.

The incidents were mainly caused by industrial accidents and illegal discharge of pollutants by companies, especially from chemical and petro-chemical plants.

Pan said SEPA had ordered chemical and petro-chemical plants to step up safety measures and 49 to relocate, adding that 14.05 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) would be spent on guarding against environmental risks.