Russia set to get help on slick
(China Daily/AP)
Updated: 2005-11-30 05:58

Bardyuk said there are now no poisonous substances found in the Heilong River, but the water supply of Khabarovsk could be cut three hours before the slick arrives.

"It depends on the density and the amount of the pollutants," he said.

A shutdown of Khabarovsk's water service could last three days. But if the density of pollutants is greatly reduced, there may be no need to cut the water supply but only to adopt a more advanced filtration technique, he said.

The city has accumulated 20 tons of activated carbon to upgrade its water filtration system and is asking for more, he said.

Zhai Pingyang, deputy director of the Heilongjiang Environmental Protection Bureau, told China Daily it was still unclear how the slick would affect the Heilong River as it is still a long way from it.

Effects of toxic spill to linger

Experts warned Tuesday that dangers from the huge chemical spill could last for years because of toxins including cancer-causing benzene imbedded in ice and mud at the bottom of the Songhua River.

Their concern came as city officials in Harbin and down river in Russia's Far East, where the 50-mile-long chemical slick was headed, sought to reassure residents their tap water was clean.

"Harbin's water is now safe to use and drink," Xiu Tinggong, vice director of the city's health inspection bureau, said on local state television. "Everybody can rest assured."

In Khabarovsk, Russia, a top environmental official drank a glass of tap water on television to show his confidence in its purity. Officials estimate the benzene spill flowing from the Songhua into the larger Heilong River, called the Amur in Russia, should reach the border city around Dec. 10-12 or sooner.

Water was shut off for five days in Harbin, the capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang famed for its annual winter ice festival, after the Nov. 13 explosion at a nearby chemical plant. The blast, which authorities said killed five people, spewed 100 tons of benzene and related toxins into the Songhua, which passes through Harbin and provides most of the city's drinking water.

Running water resumed Sunday for Harbin's 3.8 million people, but many residents said they were sticking with bottled water. In parts of the city, water from taps ran dirty.

"We still can't be sure that it's safe," said bank worker Sun Ning as she loaded a shopping cart with bottled water at a supermarket. "It's not that we don't trust the government but we are still not totally at ease."

At Jinshan Restaurant, chefs were busily stuffing and wrapping meat and vegetable dumplings but steaming them with bottled water.

Water is again coming out of the tap, "but we don't dare use it," said chef Jin Zhonghua. Jin said he lines up each morning before 9 a.m. to fill bottles from a water truck.