China takes away almost all chemical barrels from Sungari.

2/8 Tass 74

KHABAROVSK, August 2 (Itar-Tass) -- China has taken away some 7,138
barrels, including 3,571 barrels with chemicals, flooded away into the
Sungari River from the stocks of chemical plants in the Chinese Jilin
province, a source in the Chinese General Consulate in Khabarovsk told
Itar-Tass on Monday.
"The Sungari water tests taken in the provinces Jilin and Heilongjiang
show that no excessive chemical pollution is registered in the river," the
source said.
"An operation to retrieve chemical containers from the Sungari River
is finalizing, they will not get in the Amur River, so, there is no threat
of chemical pollution in the river," the source said. China is eliminating
all incident aftermath on its territory.
Russian experts also consider the Amur chemical pollution only
slightly probable. The Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and
Environmental Monitoring, the Federal Service for Supervision of Nature
Resources and some other agencies are carrying out the round-the-clock
monitoring that proves that microbiological and physical-chemical
indicators of the Amur River waters meet all standards. The chemicals in
the barrels do not produce toxic pollutants reacting with the water and
dissolve in the water, specialists said.
However, the Khabarovsk Territory and the Jewish Autonomous Region are
ready for an unexpectedly aggravated situation if the remaining chemicals
get into the Amur River. Russian Far Eastern meteorologists estimated, the
Sungari polluted waters from the chemical spill area in the Jilin province
will reach the Russian border on August 12-13 and the city of Khabarovsk
on August 15-16.
Additional posts will be placed to take water samples for water
quality tests along the transborder area of the Amur River up to
Khabarovsk. A close monitoring is underway near the junction of the
Sungari River and the Amur River, the Far Eastern Emergency Ministry
Regional centre reported.
"The next stage of Russian-Chinese monitoring involving experts on
both sides will be launched at the beginning of the second decade of
August," chief of the Far Eastern interregional department of the Federal
Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Alexander
Gavrilov told reporters. "It so happened, the monitoring schedule planned
in advance, timed to the date, when the Sungari polluted waters will reach
the Amur River after the incident in Jilin on July 28, when thousands of
chemical barrels were flooded down into the Sungari River," he noted.
The incident was earlier reported to occur at 10 am Beijing time (6 am
Moscow time) on Wednesday in Jilin, Yongji County. The chemical containers
got in the Sungari River through the Wende River, after the warehouses of
two chemical plants had been flooded. About 7,000 containers, including
3,000 with 170 kilograms of dangerous chemical agents, while the others
were reportedly empty, were washed into the river.
-0-baz/kud


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