Northeast Chinese city of Harbin resumed water supply at 6:00 p.m. Sunday since cutoff Wednesday over pollution fears, as Governor of Heilongjiang Province Zhang Zuoji took the first drink after resumption.

FIRST DRINK SHOWS WATER QUALITY RECOVERS

The governor had his drink in the house of the 75-year-old citizen Pang Yucheng, who is living in the Daoli District of Harbin.

"I took the first drink to fulfill the government's solemn promise made a few days ago to the citizens that water supply will be restored," Zhang said.

"It was also meant to reassure the public and dispel their worries," he added.

The water quality at Sifangtai, the water source site in the upper reach of Harbin section of the Songhua River, has met the national standards from 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and the main pollution slick in the Songhua River has left the section of Harbin Sunday morning, according to local environmental authorities.

The latest inspection result shows that by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday no benzene was found in the water at Sifangtai, while the nitrobenzene level has met the national standard with a concentration of 0.0034 milligrams/liter, said Lin Qiang, spokesman for the Heilongjiang Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau.

"The water is safe and reliable," said Wan Likui, director of the Public Health Inspection Institute with the Heilongjiang Provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center.

"All the indicators show the water quality has met the national standards," she told Xinhua.

"We feel much relieved when we saw the governor took the first drink and we have nothing to worry about any more," said Ma Zhixin,wife of Pang Yucheng.

CITY TO SUPPLY WATER INTERMITTENTLY

At the early period after resumption, Harbin will supply water intermittently, according to the city government.

During the peak hours in the morning and evening, the city will ensure a sufficient supply of water, but for other period of time, water supply will be controlled, it said.

Before the city recovers its full capacity of supplying water normally, the city will place some key sectors as priorities, including household use, enterprises, heating service departments, governmental departments, colleges and universities, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, primary and middle schools, and kindergartens.

While car washing and bathing service agencies are not allowed to use water for the time being, the government said.

In addition, the city will launch a three-level warning forecast system of water quality after resumption to ensure public health, the city government said.

In the warning system, "red" means the water is not suitable for drinking nor using, "yellow" means the water is suitable for using but not for drinking, while "green" means that the water meets drinking standards.

The city will publish the water quality over local media to tell its citizens when they can use or drink water, the government said.

Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province and city of 3.8 million people, has been forced to shut down its water supply system from the wee hours of Wednesday because of a highly polluted water stretch in the Songhua River, which supplies most of the water to the populous city.

Toxic benzene and nitrobenzene flew into the Songhua River, following a blast with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)Jilin Petrochemical company, a petrochemical plant in Jilin Province, a close neighbor of Heilongjiang Province, on Nov. 13.

Benzene is a clear, colorless, highly refractive flammable liquid that is derived from petroleum and used in or to manufacture a wide variety of chemical products, including detergents, insecticides and motor fuels.

WATER CUTOFF TESTIFIES CHINA'S ABILITY TO TACKLE POLLUTION EMERGENCIES

"It is an unprecedented incident for a city with millions of people in China to face such a severe water pollution, which adds difficulties to decision-making and treatment," said Zhang Zuoji.

After the accident happened, the provincial government has specifically allocated 10 million yuan (1.23 million US dollars) to tackle the emergency and meanwhile launched an all-day monitoring of the water quality.

In addition, the city of Harbin started a coordinative emergency response mechanism that grouped relevant governmental departments together, such as water supply, heating supply, medical care and public security.

During the cutoff period, the city government suspended the operation of all car washing and bathing service agencies but ensure water supply for hospitals, key enterprises and heating service.

"I was very worried when I first heard that water would be stopped, but later when I saw a great many cars carrying pure and bottled water in the streets and the water at supermarkets were sold at normal price, I felt much relieved," said Sun Xiuyun in the Nangang District.

To ensure water supply for heating service and hospitals, the city invited professionals to dig 945 new deep groundwater wells.

Shi Wenqing, vice mayor of Harbin, said his city government hadset aside one million yuan (about 125,000 US dollars) for providing free drinkable water to those urban needy that total 100,100 during the water cutoff.

Aside from these efforts, the city also opened hotlines and made public announcement over TV, radio, Internet and text messages to offer psychological help and water supply help.

With the coordination of the central government, a total of 1,000 tons of activated carbon from other provinces and regions like Hebei, Ningxia and Shanxi have been shipped to Harbin by Sunday to help purify the river water.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday arrived in Harbin to inspect the water pollution of the Songhua River and the public water supply system and urged the local government to be responsible for health and safety of the people.

Also Saturday in Beijing, during a meeting with Russian ambassador Sergei Razov, Chinese Foreign Minister informed Russia about the water pollution and apologized to Russia over the possible harms to be done to the Russian people by the major environmental pollution accident when the toxic slick enters Russia.

In Nairobi, Zhang Shigang, China's deputy permanent representative to UNEP (the United Nations Environment Program), met with the UN agency's Deputy Executive Director Shafqat Kakakhel on Saturday afternoon and gave him a thorough briefing on the disaster, pledging to provide update on the incident to the international community on a daily basis.

According to the city government, no case of poisoning by benzene had been reported during the period and besides, the city witnessed a decrease of criminal cases and no major fires or traffic accidents had been reported.

Source: Xinhua