VZCZCXRO5709
RR RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHSL
RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHGZ #0545/01 2580934
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150934Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0922
INFO RUEHGZ/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE 0260
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0719
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0199
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0209
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0200
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0271
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0195
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE 0020
RHMFIUU/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC 0030
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0249
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0245
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J00/J2/J3/J5// 0018

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000545 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, DRL AND OES/PCI 
EPA FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PHUM ECON PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Stalemate at Wastewater Plant Holds; Still no Communication 
with Local Government 
 
REF A: GUANGZHOU 534 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000545  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified.  Not for internet 
distribution.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Local villagers continued to control a suspect 
Quanzhou wastewater treatment plant (reftel) as of September 14.  To 
attract the attention of officials, villagers began filling 
contaminated holding tanks with soil September 9.  Authorities have 
restricted inter-village communication by preventing five elderly 
musicians from using musical instruments to signal neighboring 
villages.  Villagers dispute local press reports that officials have 
made good-faith efforts to resolve the stalemate.  The case of the 
water treatment plant might have been raised in a recent Political 
Consultative Conference meeting.  Villagers are skeptical of 
official claims that local environmental degradation is due to the 
leaking deep-seawater pipe of a nearby chemical factory, not the 
water treatment plant.  Villagers await the findings of government 
test reports, which they believe will bolster the protestors' 
position. Post will continue to monitor the situation.  End 
summary. 
 
Villagers Fill Tanks with Earth 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) With local officials unwilling to engage in direct contact 
with villagers from Fengwei Township located near Quanzhou, Fujian 
Province, regarding a suspect water treatment facility, the 
villagers say they felt compelled to take action September 9 in an 
attempt to attract official attention.  Villagers say 700 to 800 
villagers gathered and hauled dirt to the plant, then dumped it into 
the wastewater.  The villagers say they were able to fill 
approximately one-fifth of the plant's holding tanks using this 
method.  While they do not know whether this action was successful 
in catching the attention of authorities, they do know that it 
piqued the interest of police; a handful of police personnel watched 
the activity from a distance but made no effort to stop it. 
 
Authorities Put End to Dissonant Chord 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) To gather residents of nearby villages for the dirt hauling 
event as well as the August 31 protest (reftel), the villagers have 
relied on audio signals from five senior citizens with musical 
instruments.  Villagers claim that two police officers now guard 
each musicians' residence to prevent their elderly inhabitants from 
exiting or using their instruments. 
 
Media Inaccuracies 
------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Villagers dispute September 8 and 9 press reports claiming 
that local officials have taken steps to hear and address the 
concerns of villagers relating to the Quangang Wastewater Plant. 
According to a September 8 report in the Quanzhou Evening News and a 
release by the Xinhua News Agency the same day, the local district 
government sent 20 teams to visit with local residents, understand 
their concerns, and field their questions.  Villagers say these 
"teams" were low-ranking government workers with relatives in the 
village who were called in and instructed to encourage the villagers 
to stop protesting and return control of the wastewater plant to 
local officials. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Quanzhou Evening News report also claimed that a team 
of approximately 300 local officials had held meetings with 
villagers, the local People's Congress, the Senior Citizen's 
Association, and the People's Political Consultative Conference to 
search for solutions.  The report went on to claim that local 
officials had issued two written documents responding to the 
villagers' requests, but villagers say they have yet to see or meet 
with any authoritative local officials; most officials, the 
villagers believe, are still afraid to enter the village. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Villagers said they had heard that delegates at a recent 
Political Consultative Conference meeting did raise concerns about 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000545  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
the waste treatment plant.  Among the concerns raised were the 
plant's lack of capacity for handling industrial wastes and the need 
for improved equipment and operations if the plant were required to 
handle industrial wastes.  The Xinhua release said the government 
teams distributed a letter issued by the local government 
apologizing for "irregularity" in the operation of the wastewater 
plant and for using force against the villagers on August 31. 
Villagers, though, say they have received contradictory messages: 
one government notice claimed that the wastewater was smelly but not 
harmful, while another notice said that the wastewater was heavily 
polluted and would require advanced treatment. 
 
Another Culprit?  Or Misdirection? 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The September 8 Quanzhou Evening News report claimed that 
the local government had established five working groups, consisting 
mostly of local officials, to address two problems:  1) the 
pollution at the wastewater plant; and 2) the repair of a local 
chemical company's deep seawater pipe that is reportedly leaking 
sewage.  According to the press report, the chemical plant is 
located in Meizhou Bay -- not far from the wastewater plant -- and 
produces alkali.  Officials say the leaking deep seawater pipe was 
discovered about the same time the problems with the wastewater 
plant came to light.  Officials claim it is the problem with the 
deep seawater pipe, not the wastewater treatment plant, that has 
negatively impacted the area's aquaculture farms. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Villagers are highly skeptical of the official claims 
regarding the seawater pipe.  Villagers told us that after taking 
control of the wastewater plant and shutting off the intake pipes, 
industrial wastes -- including those from a number of tanneries -- 
were rerouted to another facility in Kuibi village.  Villagers claim 
that this overburdened pipelines running underneath Kuibi village 
and resulted in a September 10 pipe rupture that caused industrial 
wastes to bubble to the surface in Kuibi.  Villagers claim that 
government officials sent a tanker truck to collect the waste in 
Kuibi and have ordered local tanneries to suspend operations.  A 
September 9 report on the China National Radio website said that 
nine leather companies around the area had suspended operations, but 
attributed the suspension to the government's effort to reduce 
pressure on the villager-occupied Quangang Wastewater Plant. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The posting on the China National Radio website also 
claimed that the results of samples taken at the plant by a joint 
inspection team consisting of personnel from the East-China 
Inspection Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and 
the Fujian Environmental Protection Department would be published as 
soon as possible, hopefully containing recommendations that might 
help reduce the smell and help neutralize the pollutants.  Villagers 
claim to have already received the "leaked" results of the sampling. 
 The results, they say, show that the wastewater at the plant 
contains significant amounts of heavy metals. 
 
GOLDBECK