| The Chinese city of
Jiamusi of about half a million people has cut its water supply from
the Songhua River ahead of the arrival of a toxic chemical slick on
the waterway. The highly poisonous pollution is expected to reach Jiamusi
on Tuesday.
A blast at a chemical plant upstream on November 13th released 100
tons of benzene and nitrobenzene into the river. The spill caused the
city of Harbin to shut down its water supply for five days, leaving
four million people without fresh water.
The Songhua provides much of the drinking water to urban communities
in northeast China. The toxic slick is expected to reach the Russian
border by Sunday.
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