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Chemical plants to be checked
By Li Fangchao in Jiamusi and Sun Xiaohua in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-09 06:05
Chemical plants and other potential sources of pollution along river banks
will immediately come under the scanner of environmental authorities.
The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) yesterday issued an
emergency notice asking for checks to be conducted on all enterprises which pose
a threat to the environment.
The checks will focus on large- and medium-sized enterprises along major
rivers and their tributaries, especially chemical plants located in water-source
areas or densely population regions.
SEPA also asked local environmental protection bureaus to work out emergency
plans and examine chemical plants' waste treatment facilities.
The nationwide checks will last till the end of next month and SEPA will
dispatch supervisory groups to such provinces as Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu,
Anhui and Liaoning.
President Hu Jintao said yesterday that China will spare no effort to
minimize the water-borne pollution damage to Russia, which was caused by the
toxic spill in the Songhua River.
Hu told visiting Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev that
China will deal with the issue seriously with an attitude of "being highly
responsible to the two countries and the two peoples."
In Jiamusi, Heilongjiang Province, China's environment protection chief also
pledged that the country would try its best to reduce the harm the toxic slick
in Songhua River would cause to neighbouring Russia.
"We are now at a critical moment in the fight against the slick," Zhou
Xiansheng, the newly appointed director of the SEPA, said during an inspection
tour of Jiamusi yesterday. Zhou took over the post from Xie Zhenhua, who
resigned last Friday to take responsibility for the river pollution.
By yesterday morning, the front of the contaminated water arrived at urban
Jiamusi, according to the Heilongjiang Provincial Environment Protection Bureau.
But since the city relies mainly on underground water for its supplies and
has stopped drawing water from wells near the river bank, water supply has not
been affected and residents appeared calm.
A joint team consisting of representatives from SEPA, the Ministry of Water
Resources and Heilongjiang Province left for Moscow on Wednesday, according to
Qin Gang, Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Qin said that the team would hold talks with Russia's natural resources and
foreign affairs ministries before meeting local officials in Khabarovsk, the
city most likely to be affected by the slick, and inspect Heilong River (called
Amur in Russia) on the Russian side.
The team will update the Russian side on the situation of the slick and
China's anti-pollution measures and express willingness to work with Russia in
dealing with the aftermath of the pollution.
(China Daily 12/09/2005 page2)
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