http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/china.water.ap/index.html
Recently i heard in the news that a chemical factory in China exploded on 13th of november and that a toxic product called benzene polluted a nearby river.
The greatst problem that rised was that the river is the water supply of the city with 3,8 million peoples.
The toxic had a length 62.137 miles. For everyone who not know how much km. 62.137 miles = 100 km
More can readed in the article i supplied in the url.
Recently i heard in the news that a chemical factory in China exploded on 13th of november and that a toxic product called benzene polluted a nearby river.
The greatst problem that rised was that the river is the water supply of the city with 3,8 million peoples.
The toxic had a length 62.137 miles. For everyone who not know how much km. 62.137 miles = 100 km
More can readed in the article i supplied in the url.
| Quote: |
| BEIJING, China (AP) -- A Chinese city of 3.8 million people closed schools and was trucking in drinking water Wednesday after shutting down its water system following a chemical plant explosion that officials said polluted a nearby river with toxic benzene.
The announcement of the shutdown in Harbin in China's frigid northeast set off panicked buying this week of bottled water, milk and soft drinks that left supermarket shelves bare. The water system was shut down at midnight Tuesday and probably will stay out of service for four days, said an official of its Municipal Water Supply Group. He would give only his surname, Chen. An explosion November 13 at a chemical plant in the nearby city of Jilin left the Songhua River, Harbin's main water source, polluted with benzene, a toxic, flammable liquid, the government said. "The provincial government is sending in bottled drinking water from other cities," Chen said. "It must be very inconvenient for the public -- taking showers or flushing toilets. But this is an emergency and it will only last a few days." Schools canceled classes through Nov. 30 "for fear that catering and sanitation cannot be secured," the official Xinhua News Agency said. There is no sign that benzene got into the city water system, said an employee of the Harbin Environmental Bureau who would give only his surname, Wang. Harbin is one of the coldest places in China, with overnight temperatures this week of -12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit). It is best known abroad for its winter "ice lantern" festival, when giant slabs of ice cut from the Songhua are used to construct copies of famous buildings and artworks in public parks. Companies that supply steam heat to buildings have been ordered to ensure they have adequate water supplies from wells in order to ensure that heat isn't interrupted, Xinhua reported. The explosion in Jilin killed five people and forced the evacuation of 10,000 others. It was blamed on human error in a tower that processed benzene. The disaster highlighted the precarious state of China's water supplies. The country's 1.3 billion people and the factories and farms of its booming economy compete for scarce supplies, while the government says all of China's major rivers are dangerously polluted. Due to its vast population, China ranks among countries with the smallest water supplies per person. In Harbin, the government is using wells to supply hospitals and some residential areas, according to news reports. Retailers were warned not to overcharge for drinking water. The shutdown affects the city of Harbin but not its suburbs, Chen said. The city has 3.8 million people, while the surrounding area has about 5 million more. Photos in newspapers and on news Web sites showed people in packed supermarkets pushing carts overflowing with cases of bottled water and soft drinks. Families prepared by filling buckets and bathtubs with water while the government said supplies were still safe, according to state media. A front-page photo in the China Daily newspaper showed a grade school classroom with buckets of water lined up behind the students. At the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in Harbin, guests were asked to limit showers and requests for laundry service, said its public relations manager, Zhang Yan. The hotel had 600,000 liters (150,000 gallons) of water stored for drinking and everyday use, which at current occupancy would last about four days, Zhang said. |
