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Toxicity levels falling in Songhua: Minister
By Li Fangchao (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-12 05:21
FUYUAN, Heilongjiang: The density of the pollutants in the toxic slick in the
Songhua River in Northeast China has dropped sharply, the country's new
environmental chief said on Saturday.
Zhou Shengxian, newly appointed minister of the State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA), said that, besides the reduction in the
concentration of benzene and other chemicals, work to combat the pollutants in
the river would enter a new phase.
The density will be further diluted by the time the slick reaches Tongjiang,
where the Songhua meets the Heilong River (called Amur in Russia)which forms the
border between China and Russia, Zhou said.
The slick was still about 200 kilometres from Tongjiang last night.
The current density already meets the drinking water standard in Russia,
environmental experts said.
The immediate priority was still to ensure the safety of the drinking water
for residents of Jiamusi. The leading edge of the slick arrived in Huachuan
County of Jiamusi yesterday.
"From now on, we will switch our working focus to appraise the impact of the
pollutants on the ecosystem," China Central Television quoted Zhou as saying.
A chemical plant blast caused the slick on November 13 in Jilin, Jilin
Province, in the upper reaches of the Songhua. About 100 tons of benzene and
other chemicals spilled into the river, which disrupted the normal water supply
of cities downstream and affected the normal life of millions of residents.
Although Jiamusi has a population of more than 2 million, the city was little
affected by the slick because it relies on underground water as its main water
source.
Also, a four-member team from the United Nations Environment Programme
arrived in Jiamusi on Saturday and joined with experts from China and Russia
yesterday at the water sampling station.
By 8 am on Saturday, the density of nitrobenzene at the Jiamusi Checking
Station was 0.173 milligrams per litre and later fell to 0.162 milligrams per
litre. By 8 am yesterday, the density at the same place was 0.074 milligrams per
litre.
China's Ministry of Science and Technology had already granted its first
batch of 25 million yuan (US$3.08 million) for six research projects on how to
deal with the water pollution, including the benzene problem, in the Songhua
River.
(China Daily 12/12/2005 page1)
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