Toxic water of polluted river reaches Harbin
(AFP/Reuters/China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-24 05:40

The front of the polluted water of Songhua River in northeast China reached Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, on early Thursday morning, local environment authority said.

The toxic benzene-contaminated water, flowing down from the upper reaches of Songhua River, from which Harbin draws its drinking water, arrived at the local water supply inlet at about 5 a.m..

Harbin, home to nine million population including 3.8 million in the urban districts, has cut off water supply in the urban areas since early Wednesday, an emergency action taken to ensure public safety.

The operation of the city's water supply system was temporarily resumed on Wednesday afternoon following a forecast by China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) that the polluted water will not reach the city until Thursday.

China confirmed Wednesday that an explosion at a petrochemical plant had caused "major pollution" of the Songhua River.

The explosion at a PetroChina factory in the northeastern province of Jilin led to an outpouring of the carcinogen benzene into the 1,897-kilometer-long (1,176-mile) Songhua river, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Wednesday.

"After the blast at the chemical plant the monitoring station in Jilin found that benzene went into the river and polluted the water," the EPA said in a statement on its website.

"Benzene levels were 108 times above national safety levels."

Zhang Lanying, director of the Environment and Resources Institute of Jilin University, said that benzene which does not dissolve in water is a dangerous substance.

People who drink water with a little benzene can have oral festering. "Massive amounts can lead to the disorder of blood cells; in other words, leukaemia," she said.

"Harbin's move to cut off the water supply was not a knee-jerk reaction. "

"If the contaminated water had been supplied to households, the result would have been unimaginable."

Xinhua news agency quoted government sources as saying that Harbin needs 1,400 tons of active carbon to purify the contaminated water in the Songhua but is currently 700 tons short.

The polluting material index had dropped to 29 times above national safety levels when the contaminants reached the border of Jilin and Heilongjiang on Sunday, the EPA said.

The provincial government had warned Harbin residents to stay away from the river to avoid possible exposure to airborne contaminants coming off the water.

Before the taps were closed at midnight on Tuesday, panicked residents rushed stores to stock up on food and water in a city where winter temperatures regularly drop below minus 20 Celsius.