Zhang Zuoji, governor of Heilongjiang Province, took the first sip of water after the tap system was turned back on at 6pm yesterday. --Xinhua

The taps were turned back on yesterday in Harbin as a wave of contaminated water flowed past the Heilongjiang Province capital and headed for Russia.
China apologized to its northern neighbor on Saturday and promised to keep it informed of the progress of the toxic slick, the result of a November 13 explosion at a China National Petroleum Corp plant in Jilin Province.
The blast released some 100 tons of benzene and nitrobeneze into the Songhua River, the main tap water source for Harbin and many other cities in northeast China.
Harbin shut down its municipal water system last Wednesday and trucked in supplies from other sources and dug a series of deep wells to serve its 3.8 million citizens.
Zhang Zuoji, governor of Heilongjiang Province, took the first sip of water after the tap system was turned back on at 6pm yesterday.
The system will run only intermittently for the time being, the government said.
The taps will flow during peak-use hours in the morning and evening and remain under tight control at all other times.
Several priority sectors have been targeted until full service can resume, including residential users, factories, heating services, government departments, colleges and universities, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, primary and middle schools and kindergartens.
Car washes and bathhouses will continue to be shut down for now, the government said.
The city was able to restore partial service after readings on Saturday night at Sifangtai, Harbin's main intake point on the Songhua River, showed that the water met national standards.
In Beijing on Saturday, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing updated Russian Ambassador to China Sergey Razov on the pollution situation in the Songhua and the measures taken by the Chinese government to address the catastrophe.
The contaminated water is expected to flow into the Heilongjiang River - called the Amur River in Russia - on the Sino-Russian border.
Li expressed the Chinese government's regret over the possible harm the wave of toxic water may cause to the Russian people, saying China fully understands and attaches great importance to Russian concerns.
After the pollution occurred, China repeatedly informed its neighbor of the details of the mishap, including providing lab test results and reports on the progress of the discharge, authorities said.
The two countries have agreed to open a hot line between their environmental departments, the foreign minister said.
Also on Saturday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Harbin to investigate the situation.
(Xinhua)