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Official: Songhua River pollutant density sharply down
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-10 17:01
The pollutant density in the Songhua River, northeast China, has lowered
sharply as the pollution slick passes through Jiamusi, the second largest city
on the river's lower reaches, top environment official Zhou Shengxian said
Saturday.
Zhou, the newly appointed director of the State Environmental Protection
Administration, oversaw the monitoring work at the Dalai post in the upstream of
Jiamusi city Saturday morning.
Nitrobenzene density at the Dalai monitoring post measured 0.261 mg per litre
Saturday morning, sharply down from 0.581 mg per litre reported at the Sujiatun
post further upstream.
As of 8:00 a.m., the maximum nitrobenzene density at the Jiamusi post
measured 0.173 mg per litre and in a while reduced to 0.162 mg per litre. The
local environment watchdog said the density will continue to fall when the
pollution belt arrives at the downstream city of Tongjiang, where the Songhua
River joins the Heilongjiang River that flows into Russia.
Zhou has urged the local environmental protection departments to continue
water quality surveillance in order to ensure safety of drinking water. "We
should also start appraising the impact of the pollutants on the ecosystem and
work to minimize such impact."
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