Harbin water 'safe'

28 Nov 2005, 12:00 am
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Water supplies have returned to the city of Harbin in China's northeast, five days after news of massive contamination of the Songhua River caused panic among the population of 3.8 million people.

Water supplies have returned to the city of Harbin in China's northeast, five days after news of massive contamination of the Songhua River caused panic among the population of 3.8 million people.

Harbin has been relying on stored and bottled water, as well as hastily dug wells to keep the city's residents hydrated after a blast tore through a chemical plant in Jilin, 380 kilometres away, on November 13.

In a bid to reassure city residents that water supplies are now safe, provincial governor Zhang Zuoji took the first drink of tap water, the Xinhua state news agency reported.

"The water is a little bit hot but tastes very sweet," Mr Zhang said after taking a sip of hot water.

But government officials have warned people not to follow the governor's example just yet, saying the water supplies lying in the city's pipes will remain dirty for another five days.

An announcement will be televised on radio and television once water purity returns to a safe level for drinking.

Meanwhile, Harbin plans to launch a three-colour coding system to advise residents on water quality, according to a Xinhua report.

Red indicates the water is not suitable for any purpose, yellow that it can be used but not for drinking, and green that it is suitable for all uses.

Russia readies for spill

But as life begins returning to normal in Harbin, further downstream the Russian city of Khabarovsk is preparing for the worst.

China's Songhua flows into the Heilong River which becomes the Amur once it crosses into Russian territory.

Within days, Russians expect the 100 tonnes of nitrobenzene to arrive after travelling nearly 1,000 kilometres along the shared waterway.

An airlift of 50 tonnes of activated carbon has been arranged to help absorb some of the toxic slick.

Officials predict that Khabarovsk's water will begin to be affected by the end of the week, with extra stocks of purified water already shipped to the city of 580,000 people.

Oleg Mitvol, Russia's deputy chief of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, told the regional Ekho Mosvky radio network that it was difficult to estimate the potential impact.

But he warned that fish populations in the Amur River would 'suffer significantly', the RIA-Novosti news service reported.

The scale of the environmental disaster prompted China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to make a formal apology to the Russian ambassador.

"On behalf of the Chinese government, I express regret over the possible harm that may be done to Russian people as a result of the accident," Mr Li was quoted as saying to Sergei Razov.

"China fully understands and attaches great importance to the concerns of the Russian side."

Cost of Chinese development

The spill has highlighted concerns about the environmental cost being paid for China's rapid economic development over the past 25 years, amid claims that standards are frequently sacrificed for the sake of cheaper production methods.

Accusations that officials were slow to notify the public of the Jilin explosion and take action have sparked orders from Premier Wen Jiabao for closer monitoring of water quality.

"Local governments must follow the polluted waters through the cities, towns and villages along the river and make prompt public reports on the monitoring results," Premier Wen was quoted as saying by the Heilongjiang Morning Post.

The government has promised to investigate the spill and punish any officials found responsible.

But the contamination of the Songhua is not an isolated event, and environmentalists have questioned the construction of the Jilin facility so close to a key water source.

A second chemical plant explosion, this time in the southwest county of Dianjiang on November 24, has killed at least one person and forced the evacuation of 6,000 others.

More than 800 people are working to clear the nearby Guixi River using screens made from straw and activated charcoal.

Officials said tests were being conducted every four hours to measure water quality, but did not reveal what chemicals were involved.

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