Northeast China's Jilin Province will have sewage treatment plants in all 36 counties along the Songhua River by the end of next year, environment authorities said Wednesday.

The plants would be capable of treating 1.46 million tons of sewage a day, which would well cope with the needs of people living along the river, said Wang Guocai, director of the provincial department of environmental protection.

The total investment in the sewage plants is not available.

The plants are part of a pollution control plan in the Songhua River Basin, which includes 86 projects with an combined investment of 5.039 billion yuan (737.6 million U.S. dollars) between 2006 and 2010.

Jilin authorities are considering the investment of another 11.2 billion yuan to control pollution in the basin.

The provincial department of environmental protection has tightened environmental protection in the basin. Since 2007, 316 plants have been closed and 513 others ordered to suspend production until they had dealt with pollution problems, Wang said.

The Songhua River was seriously polluted when 100 tons of benzene-related pollutants flowed into it after a chemical plant explosion in Jilin City on its upper reaches in 2005.

The contamination forced Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, to temporarily suspend water supply to 3.8 million people. It also raised concerns in Russia as the river empties into the Heilongjiang River dividing China and Russia.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2009)