The pollutant density in the Songhua River, northeast China, has
lowered sharply as the pollution slick passes through Jiamusi, the
second largest city on the river's lower reaches, top environment
official Zhou Shengxian said Saturday.
Zhou, the newly appointed director of the State Environmental
Protection Administration, oversaw the monitoring work at the Dalai
post in the upstream of Jiamusi City Saturday morning.
Nitrobenzene density at the Dalai monitoring post measured 0.261
mg per liter Saturday morning, sharply down from 0.581 mg per liter
reported at the Sujiatun post further upstream.
As of 8:00 AM, the maximum nitrobenzene density at the Jiamusi
post measured 0.173 mg per liter and in a while reduced to 0.162 mg
per liter. The local environment watchdog said the density will
continue to fall when the pollution belt arrives at the downstream
city of Tongjiang, where the Songhua River joins the Heilongjiang
River that flows into Russia.
Zhou has urged the local environmental protection departments to
continue water quality surveillance in order to ensure safety of
drinking water. "We should also start appraising the impact of the
pollutants on the ecosystem and work to minimize such
impact."
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(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2005)