Shanghai Daily
May 31, 2001

Water pollution is suspected in Mudanjiang, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, as unidentified flocs – suspended aggregate particles – have been detected at a water supply source since Sunday, the city government said yesterday. The floating aggregate material, detected at 4pm on Sunday, is an unidentified organic substance, said the city government of Mudanjiang. The city’s environment watchdog agency and disease prevention center have sent samples of the water to the provincial capital Harbin for laboratory analysis. The local water supply company has sterilized its running water with chlorine, said Ye Dan, an official of the city’s environment monitoring station. By midday yesterday, no water cutoff had been reported downtown, but the hydraulic pressure is low in some areas, said Ye. The water supply source of Mudanjiang is located in the lower reaches of the Hailanghe River, a tributary of the Mudanjiang. No chemical plants are located along its upper reaches, said the environmental watchdog agency. In northwest China’s Qinghai Province, meanwhile, governments will provide cleaner water to more than 1.7 million farmers and herdsmen by launching a series of projects. About 1 million farmers and herdsmen who are experiencing water shortages or polluted drinking water will have improved water by the end of 2010, said Xing Lianwen, an official with the provincial water resources bureau. The official said the remaining 730,000 people will be provided with adequate clean water resources from 2011 to 2020. Qinghai will develop water resources this year, and further speed up construction of medium and large water storage and supply projects that will provide clean water, Xing said. Qinghai, water heads of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and the Lancang River, have total water resources of more than 62.9 billion cubic meters. But because of poverty and poor geographical conditions, 44.5 percent of the 1.73 million farmers and herdsmen lack clean, potable water.