In China's northeastern Jilin Province, on November 13, 2005, a petrochemical plant explosion released 100 tons of toxic waste into the Songhua River. The Songhua leak of 2005 gained prominence in large part due to the inadequate reaction capacity displayed by central and local state agencies. Representatives from China's State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) visited the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi and the UN offices in Beijing on November 26 in order to provide detailed information regarding the Songhua spill. SEPA then continued to send the UN updates on a regular basis. Despite being a bold step on the side of the Chinese government, it didn't seek the UN until two full weeks after the first explosion in Jilin Province, when the pollution slick had already reached Harbin. It is likely safe to assume that this was the longest the Chinese government could wait without running the risk of conflict with Russia, whose border was downriver, even though the central government went public primarily because it could no longer keep information about the incident from its own citizens. This chemical explosion had an effect on different cities some are summarized below:
1. Effects on Jilin City
An industrial water plant in Jilin City was shut down on the day of the blasts. Several hydroelectric plants upstream started releasing extra water about the same time in an effort to dilute the chemical that had flown into the Songhua River. Songhua River water deliveries were stopped on November 15, and other water deliveries were stopped on November 18. On November 23, the water supplies were resumed.
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2. Effects On The Province Of Heilongjiang
Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, was negatively impacted when the local Harbin administration announced a shutdown of the water infrastructure for maintenance on November 21. Harbin is heavily reliant on the Songhua River for its water supply. Other water sources in the city had already been cut off without warning from the Harbin local government, which caused panic among the city's inhabitants.
3. Effects on Russia
The poisonous slick entered Russia on December 16 and affected the city of Khabarovsk there. The slick was now considerably less thick. However, Russia had extra wells drilled and citizens are given instructions to store water before the slick reached the city as a precaution against contamination.
Contaminant water
Following the explosions, more than 100 tons of pollutants with toxic ingredients, including benzene and nitrobenzene, entered the Songhua River, an arm of the Amur River. Pollutants from Jilin province went through a number of cities and counties before entering the Songhua River. The Heilongjiang province and its city, Harbin, were then negatively impacted. The slick traveled through Jiamusi city in eastern Heilongjiang before entering the Amur River near the Sino-Russian border. The Amur River formerly had benzene levels that were 108 times higher than what was considered acceptable for human consumption. The poisonous sleek then traveled through a number of Russian territories, including the Jewish Autonomous Oblast and the Khabarovsk Krai districts of the Russian Far East, notably the cities of Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The slack then made its way into the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Tartary. Among the regions where water pollution was a problem.
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