Waste water from two paper mills in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region had to be discharged to flood arable lands and houses around them to avoid endangering levees along the Yellow River, China's top environment watchdog revealed yesterday. In a statement issued yesterday, the State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) explained the situation as part of a summary of nationwide environment emergencies.

On April 10, a severe storm hit Bayannur League, Inner Mongolia, and more than 10 million tons of waste water stored in a temporary water pool of the Urad Front Banner threatened to overflow, which could have endangered levees along the Yellow River. To protect the levees, the local government decided to open the temporary water pool, which then inundated more than 66 hectares of arable land nearby. Fifty-seven households nearby were also affected. The water, which was seriously polluted, was mainly waste water from two local paper mills and the banner, the statement said. The two local paper mills, Saiwai Xinghuazhang Paper Co and Meili Beichen Paper Co, had been pouring unprocessed waste water directly into the pool for a long time, which caused the pollution, the statement said. What is more, the local government is also responsible because it arbitrarily reduced the volume of the pool, which violates an environmental protection regulation and was also a major cause of the emergency. The two mills were shut down for further inspection and the local government has been instructed to rebuild the pool.

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