China confirms “major” pollution of river

By Guo Shipeng and Nick Macfie

BEIJING (Reuters) – China confirmed on Wednesday that an
explosion at a petrochemical plant had caused “major pollution”
of a river which has led authorities to shut off water supplies
in one of its biggest cities for at least four days.

Residents of Harbin, capital of far northeastern
Heilongjiang province, were jamming the airport and rail
stations to get out, a witness said.

China’s State Environmental Protection Administration said
that the Songhua River had suffered “major water pollution”
after the November 13 explosion at the plant upstream, the
Xinhua news agency said.

Taps were turned off in Harbin at midnight on Tuesday after

two days of panic buying of bottled water and food in a
city where winter temperatures regularly drop below minus 20
Celsius.

The explosion happened in neighboring Jilin province only a
few hundred yards from the Songhua River, which supplies water
to Harbin, a metropolitan area of nine million people. Five
people were killed in the blast.

“Pollution is definite,” said a regional water official,
who declined to give his name. “It has entered the Songhua
River and has affected the banks and lower reaches.”

The Beijing Times newspaper said the pollutants in the
partly frozen river included benzene, an industrial solvent and
component of petrol.

An environmental official quoted by Xinhua said the
polluted water was expected to reach the stretch of river where
Harbin siphons off its drinking water on Wednesday evening and
clear the city by Friday afternoon.

“Several major tributaries join the Songhua River on the
downstream of Harbin,” the official said. “It will help to
lessen the degree of pollution.”

HOSPITALS ON STANDBY

The Songhua runs into Russia several hundred kilometers
beyond Harbin. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday
that China always took care of other countries’ border water
interests.

One factory manager told Reuters: “Everyone wants to leave
Harbin and it is very difficult to buy tickets, just like
during the Lunar New Year holiday.

“All containers are being used to store water, including
the bathtub. It will be okay for four days, but not longer than
that.”

Fifteen hospitals were on standby to take in contamination
victims, Xinhua news agency said.

A notice on the city government Web site saying supplies
would resume in four days has been superseded by another saying
a resumption date would be announced later.

“The new notice does not necessarily mean an extension,” a
Harbin government spokesman told Reuters. “But we will make a
decision after four days according to the water quality at that
time.

“There is sufficient water. Residents have all stored a lot
and we have been rushing in water from other places. We also
have safe underground water.”

Prices of bottled water soared in recent days and state
media said shops had been ordered to restore prices to normal
to prevent panic buying.

U.S. beer-making giant Anheuser-Busch, which runs a brewery
in Harbin, said it had not been affected because it uses well
water.

Harbin, a frontier town founded in the late 19th century,
is famed for its old Russian- and European-style architecture.
Each January it attracts crowds of tourists for a spectacular
ice sculpture display.

“They did not have enough preparation, otherwise they would
not have needed to shut down the water completely,” said Fu
Tao, director of the Water Policy Research Center at Beijing’s
Tsinghua University.

“But Harbin has shown a sense of responsibility by taking
the current strong measures. It would be worse if a city
stopped water supply without warning or silently kept providing
polluted water.”

(Additional reporting by Niu Shuping)