Chemical leak fear behind cut in water supply

HARBIN: The city government Tuesday made a U-turn by admitting that fears of water contamination in Songhua River, which supplies the capital of Heilongjiang Province, were behind the city's four-day water supply cut.

On Monday, it rejected such fears as "just a rumour," saying the stoppage scheduled to begin late last night was for a thorough check of the water-supply system.

A government statement said Tuesday that the environment bureau had forecast that possibly-contaminated water could arrive from the upper reaches of the river in the coming days following a chemical plant blast on November 13.

The chemical plant in Jilin city, in the neighbouring Jilin Province, is only a few hundreds metres from the banks of the 1,850-kilometre Songhua. Harbin is on the middle reaches of the river.

The water-supply cut, earlier announced to be from noon Tuesday, was postponed to midnight as the government called on residents, work units and businesses to store enough water.

All the city's wells will be used to supply drinking water and the health department should ensure safety, the government said, adding that water tankers would be on standby.

City residents, who number 3.8 million, continued to buy and stock up water. All utensils, such as pails, kegs, thermos flasks, and washbasins in the city were filled; and containers enjoyed brisk sales.

Bottled mineral water remained out of stock in supermarkets and shops but beverages and milk were available.

However, there was no panic buying like on Monday or long queues at shopping centres because tap water was available.

At noon, the government issued a statement saying the water quality in Songhua was normal, and called on citizens to remain calm.

They did remain calm but were not taking any chances.

"I have filled all the utensils at home, six basins, two thermos flasks and an urn," said Zhao Yunpeng, a salesman. "We have never experienced something like this, so it's better to be prepared.

"Anyway, who knows when the supply will be resumed?"

Zhang Yan, from Harbin Shangri-la, said the hotel stored 600 tons of water in a tank.

The hotel apologized to its guests for the inconvenience and asked them not to waste water.

Harbin Railway Station said that it has more than 100 deep wells between railway lines.

"We usually supply the trains with well water," said Liu Hailou, from the railway station. "We will heat the water pumped from the wells to supply drinking water for passengers."

Meanwhile, the Harbin Education Bureau ordered all primary and middle schools to suspend classes from tomorrow till Monday.

The price bureau issued an emergency order stating that merchants should not take advantage of the shortage to raise prices.

"The water price should be no higher than that on November 20," said a spokeswoman for the bureau, which did not specify what penalty awaits violators.

Operations at main factories in Harbin remained normal. The three most famous factories Harbin Boiler Factory, Harbin Electrical Machine Factory and Harbin Steam Turbine Plant all said they had taken effective measures to ensure their companies operate normally and safely.

Source: China Daily