The local government of Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, launched a campaign on Friday targeting industrial companies within the basin of the Songhua River to ensure water safety for its nearly 4 million urban residents.

 

In a plan unveiled on Friday, the city government ordered all districts and counties under its jurisdiction to investigate the companies, either along the river or depending directly on the Songhua River, which traverses Harbin from west to east.

 

A total of 541 chemical, papermaking, food-processing and pharmaceutical companies along the Harbin section of the Songhua River will be under the scrutiny of inspectors.

 

Domestic or aquatic animal breeding near the water source of the river has also been banned.

 

The inspection will last until September 15 when all information must be submitted to the Harbin Environment Protection Bureau.

 

The information will include basic company details, the components and volume of the pollutant, and its emergency-response plan for accidents.

 

Companies that discharge wastewater directly into the river without processing will face either suspension or closure, according to the plan.

 

By the end of this year, all direct wastewater discharge outlets along the river will be closed, it said.

 

This is the first time that the local government has set a deadline for polluting companies since a major river pollution accident last November, caused by a chemical plant blast in Jilin City, Jilin Province, in the upper reaches of the Songhua River.

 

The plan came shortly after another pollution incident in which about 10 tons of chemicals were dumped into a tributary on August 21. Local environment authorities excluded the possibility that the river's water quality would be affected by the accident.

 

(China Daily September 2, 2006)