PetroChina apologize for chemical spill (Xinhua) Updated: 2005-11-24 14:16
The Party head of Jilin City, where a chemical plant exploded on November 13, and
the plant's owner, PetroChina Company Ltd, have apologized to Harbin citizens
for the contamination of the Songhua River, the main water supply point for
Harbin, Beijing News reported on Thursday.
The Harbin government cut the city's water supply for four days because of
fears of contamination and schools there have been shut until next Wednesday.
PetroChina has offered 60 water tankers to Harbin and helped to dig wells for
ground water.
People in Jilin Province seldom drink water from the Songhua, but 90 percent
of the drinking water in Harbin comes from it, said Zhai Pingyang, an official
of Heilongjiang environment institute.
He said many chemical plants beside the Songhua in Jilin Province had been
pouring polluted water into the river for decades and the two provinces had
negotiated about the situation many times.
|