Today in China

A few days ago, a short news said that the water supply would be shut down in Harbin (???) for four days. Now, information is starting to flood… and not only information. A huge pollution slick, 80 kilometers long, is reaching the doors of Harbin. The polluted SongHua river (???) is the drinking water source of Harbin, one of China’s biggest cities with about 10 millions people.

A Benzene plant situated upstream in the nearby city of Jilin (??) along the Songhua river exploded on November 13, 2005. The Benzene levels were 108 times the national safety levels. People from Harbin started leaving the city or buying all available water and containers in the shops.
On November 22, city officials decided to cut off the water supply for four days. The price of bottled water doubled, schools and public bathhouses were closed.
On November 23, water supply was reinstated for 12 hrs because officals concluded that the toxic water would not reach the city until November 24. This allowed people to store some more water for the next days.
This morning at 5:00 am, the polluted water finally reached Harbin with level of Benzene 29 times above safety levels.

People who drink the polluted water can have from oral festering to leukaemia depending on how much they drink. I’m wondering how long it will take to handle 80 kilometers of polluted water.

The government allocated 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) to deal with emergencies; and 1 million yuan (US$120,000) to help the poor, elderly and those living alone. 10 hospitals have been designated to treat patients in case they drink contaminated water.

Other cities upstream or downstream will not suffer as much as Harbin because they mostly rely on underground sources of drinkable water.

Sources
China Daily - 2005 11 24
Wikipedia - Harbin