Water quality in rivers and a lake bordering China and Russia
will be jointly monitored by the two countries following the
signing of an agreement on Wednesday. .
According to the agreement, the two countries will jointly
record the water quality of the Argun, Heilong, Wusuli and Suifen
rivers and Xingkai Lake between 2007 and 2010.
The move follows last year's heavy pollution of northeast
China's Songhua River which flows into the Heilong River and is
called the Amur River in Russia and borders the two countries.
The pollution caused by a chemical plant explosion in the upper
waters of the Songhua threatened the water supply of millions of
residents along the river in China. Since then the two countries
have been in talks on how to effectively protect water quality with
the establishment of a committee consisting of officials from
China's State Environmental Protection Administration and the
Russian Ministry of Natural Resources.
The agreement was signed at the end of the first meeting of the
committee which opened on Tuesday. Meetings will be held annually
alternating between the two countries.
The water boundary between China and Russia stretches for around
3,600 kilometers. In late February this year the State
Environmental Protection Administration of China and the Ministry
of Natural Resources of Russia signed a memorandum of understanding
in Beijing pledging to conduct joint monitoring of rivers and other
stretches of water along the lengthy border.?
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn June 1, 2006)
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