Court upholds rejection of water contamination compensation claims

A court in northwest China's Gansu province has upheld a rejection of compensation claims brought by five citizens in a 2014 tap water contamination scandal involving several companies. The Intermediate People's Court of Lanzhou city, Gansu's capital, gave the verdict Friday after five citizens appealed following the ruling by a district court last November.

In the written verdict, the court rejected the claims of citizens saying the company had adopted remedial measures to deal with and compensate for the pollution. Additionally, it said all citizens in Lanzhou were affected by the pollution, so it is unfair to compensate certain people.

On April 11, 2014, the Lanzhou government warned residents not to drink tap water for 24 hours after benzene amounting to more than 10 times the national standard was found in the tap water. The crisis affected more than 600,000 citizens and caused panic.

According to investigations, cracks were found on outdated ducts at a water plant owned by Lanzhou Veolia Water Company, a Sino-French joint venture and the sole water supplier for urban Lanzhou.

Lanzhou Petrochemical's oil pipeline lies underneath the ducts. Crude oil leaks from the pipeline polluted the soil and groundwater, which seeped through the cracks in the duct and brought hazardous levels of benzene into the city's tap water.

The event led to punishment of 20 government officials in Lanzhou and managerial staff of both companies.

Nine citizens filed a lawsuit last November against the companies, demanding compensation of 60,000 yuan (around 9,400 U.S. dollars) for the costs including bottled water and physical examinations.

The People's Court of Chengguan District overruled the compensation claims. Dissatisfied with the verdict, five of the nine plaintiffs appealed.