A wave of polluted water from a chemical plant explosion along the Songhua River in northern China entered Bayan County in Heilongjiang Province yesterday morning after passing through Harbin, according to an environmental bulletin.
The contaminated flow is now on its way to Russia, which is gearing up efforts to minimize the effects of the toxic flow.
In Bayan, the density of toxic nitrobenzene in the river was measured at 10 times above safety limits, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration.
Bayangang is 143 kilometers downstream from Harbin, which shut off the water supply serving its 3.8 million residents for four days as the pollution passed the city's main intake point on the Songhua.
Some 50 tons of nitrobenzene and benzene passed by Harbin, according to the bulletin.
After shutting down its tap system on Wednesday, Harbin resumed water supply at 6pm on Sunday after the pollution levels in the river fell within the allowed range.
Chinese environmental experts estimated that around 100 tons of pollutants flowed into the Songhua when the blast occurred at an upstream chemical plant run by the China National Petroleum Corp in Jilin Province on November 13. They said some of the contaminants were deposited or absorbed along the way.
Russia's emergency agency said yesterday it was mounting a rapid response effort to deal with the spill, which is expected to reach China's northern neighbor early next month.
The Songhua River flows into the Heilong River, which crosses the border and becomes the Amur in Russia.
Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said the tainted water could affect 70 cities and villages with a total population of more than 1 million residents, including Khabarovsk, a city of 580,000.
The ministry said in a statement yesterday that it was preparing to turn off tap water and planned to airlift activated carbon for use in water treatment facilities to help absorb the spill.
A Russian environment inspection group arrived in Harbin yesterday to investigate the latest situation of the Songhua.
The seven-member group is headed by V. V. Dardiuk, director of the environmental protection bureau of Khabarovsk.
(Xinhua)