Jilin, PetroChina apologize for chemical spill

BEIJING, Nov. 24 -- 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 today.

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.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)