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Polluted water in Songhua River reaches Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province November 24, 2005. (China Newsphoto/Reuters) - |
Posted on 11/24/2005 3:46:25 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Thursday November 24, 4:27 PM
80-kilometer slick flows into China's Harbin city
HARBIN, China (AFP) - An 80-kilometer-long (48-mile) slick of highly toxic benzene flowed along the icy Songhua river into one of China's biggest cities, contaminating water supplies for up to four million people.
The carcinogenic chemical reached the outskirts of Harbin, capital of China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, about 5:00 am on Thursday, authorities said.
Although water supplies were cut off about 30 hours before the poisoned water reached the city and there were no reports of people being contaminated, the environmental impact of the potential disaster was still unclear.
Schools remained closed in Harbin, residents continued to stockpile bottled water and other basic supplies, and dozens of wells were being dug, even though the government said the toxins would pass through the city by Saturday.
"It will take about 40 hours for the slick to pass through Harbin city," the Environmental Protection Administration vice minister, Zhang Lijun, told reporters in Beijing.
However with the government waiting until Wednesday, 10 days after an explosion at an upriver chemical factory that caused the benzene spill, to confirm the potential disaster, some Harbin residents were taking no chances.
"We have stored up at least 15 days of water," Yang Jun told AFP.
A newspaper seller surnamed Cui said he did not trust the government following their failure quickly to disclose the benzene spill in neighbouring Jilin province.
"We don't know what's happening," Cui said as he sat on the banks of the Songhua in below-freezing temperatures.
"They've known about this pollution for 10 days but didn't say a thing, so no-one really knows what else they aren't telling us."
Photos of dead fish along the banks of the Songhua also did little to ease environmental fears.
Harbin, which has about 3.8 million urban residents and a total population of about nine million, is highly dependent on the 1,897-kilometre Songhua for its water supplies.
In Russia, a state of emergency was set to be put in place in the far east region of Khabarovsk on Friday amid fears the slick would contaminate water supplies for 1.5 million residents there.
Emergency ministry officials in Khabarovsk, which borders Heilonjiang province, said Thursday the slick was expected to flow along the Songhua into Russia, and then into the bigger Amur river, within days.
The contamination was caused by a massive explosion at a PetroChina benzene factory in Jilin province, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) upriver from Harbin.
It was still unclear on Thursday how the environmental disaster had impacted Songyuan and Zhaoyuan, two other major Chinese cities between Harbin and Jilin that also depend on the Songhua for water.
The government's refusal to publicly aknowledge the benzene link until Wednesday had fuelled scenes of panic in Harbin over the weekend and early this week when speculation first surfaced of an impending water stoppage.
Hundreds of thousands of people emptied supermarket shelves of bottled water and food amid rumours of an imminent earthquake, while other residents packed their bags and evacuated the city.
A railway official told the Beijing News more people had left Harbin in recent days than during the National Day Golden Week holiday.
On Thursday relative calm had been restored after authorities brought in millions of bottles of water, reassuring residents that at least there would be reliable drinking supplies.
The local government said Thursday it was doing its best to ensure no more scenes of panic.
"We must ensure that the emotions of the people are stable, that the supply and demand of the city's markets are stable and we must actively respond to any problems that may occur," Heilongjiang's top leader, Song Fatang, said.
According to the government, benzene pollution levels on the Songhua river exceeded 103 times national safety levels on November 19, some 130 kilometers up river from Harbin.
The levels of benzene, a carcinogen that can be lethal if someone is exposed to high levels, even in small doses, was expected to enter Harbin at levels some 29 times about safety standards, the government said.
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Polluted water in Songhua River reaches Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province November 24, 2005. (China Newsphoto/Reuters) - |
Ping!
Thirty years ago I was in Tokyo and saw small streams in the city that were orange and yellow with pollution.
The Kyoto protocal would force America to curb pollution and it would definately cripple our econemy. While third world crapholes like China would effectively be exempt and their pollution problems are much worse then ours.
But Kyoto isn't about the worlds pollution, it is about curbing Americxa and the wests progress and bounty.
How is it that we pollute? There are so many regs now that I don't believe we are anywhere near the top of polluters in the world. It's more about greenhouse gases which we may contribute quite a bit. Again, I don't think that's an issue, either.
Kyoto is more about making us pay to help clean up other countries.
Kyoto, however, has more to do with the economic-crippling of America than the stewardsmanship of the environment. Signing it is a game for suckers.
Having been in the emergency enviro response business all I can say is wow. Good luck on ever getting that river right in this decade.
They should burn off the Benzene. It floats on the water and is highly flammable.
where are the envirowackos?
In such a situation, based on your experience, would their water-supply be safe again in a near future, say in two months? Or will it take years?
I don't know the plume would be as bad as the vapors.
I would think so depending on how and where they draw. If they depend free flowing for source the benzene will float on down and skimmers will capture some. But what gets entrained in the soil will continue to leach for years. They will have a tough time treating water. They will be going through a lot of carbon.
When will the Chinese learn that a govt answerable to no one is dangerous?
It's probably a new government aero-populationg-growth scheme. If a few million die, they have plenty to replace them, though.
I know what benzine is, as it is called here in the states. Hell we used to wash our tools in the stuff years ago, in Europe though it is refered to as gasoline. Benzine is a by product of crude oil refining and is also part of gasoline makeup.
No, benzene is a ring of 6 Carbons with a Hydrogen on each. C6H6. Gasoline is a mixture of many hydrocarbons, mainly pentane (C5H12), hexane (C6H14), heptane, octane (C8H18), nonane, decane (C10H22), undecane, and dodecane (C12H26). Pattern is C(n)H(2n+2). No carbon rings. Very different stuff. I wonder why they call gasoline benzene?
Oops. I messed up. The word you used was BENZINE. not benzene. Benzine is also a mixture of hydrocarbons, so it's probably gasoline.
I do not know why but was refering to especialy Germany. Spent two years there and that is what they called gasoline.
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