Water monitoring starts in Amur River over chemical incident.

9/8 Tass 44

KHABAROVSK, August 9 (Itar-Tass) - Specialists of the Dalgidromet and
Emergency Situations Ministry have started taking water samples in the
Amur River ahead of the approach of water flows from the Sungari River
with possible residual chemical contamination. On Monday, experts sailed
on a motor boat to the area located some 10 kilometres upstream of
Khabarovsk.
According to chief of the Far Eastern Department for Hydrometeorology
and Environmental Monitoring (Dalgidromet) Alexander Gavrilov, water
samples taken here "will make it possible to determine the so-called
background parameters of the river condition." Their comparison with the
results of the water analyses in 6-7 days when the Sungari water comes to
Khabarovsk, will give an exact answer to the alarming question: if the
Amur River was contaminated with chemicals or not as a result of the
incident in the Chinese province of Jilin.
On July 28, over 7,000 barrels with chemicals were washed into the
Sungari River from warehouses of chemical plants. There are no exact data
on how many barrels were unsealed and how many exploded in the water.
The Sungari River flows from the emergency zone will come to the place
of confluence with the Amur on August 10-12. Additional posts for taking
samples and analyses of the water quality have already been set up here,
near the Nizhneleninskoye settlement.
The Chinese side pledged that all the containers with chemicals have
been retrieved from the Sungari, there is no ecological threat and danger
of the Amur's contamination. Russian experts who are analysing information
provided by the Chinese colleagues also believe that there is low
probability of a serious chemical contamination threat.
However, the preventive measures have been taken. The Khabarovsk city
is supplied with drinking water through an intake in the Amur River. The
Vodokanal water utility enterprise is ready for additional water
purification with the use of absorbent carbon.
The drinking water demand has been calculated and its delivery to the
population by air transport has been planned in case the water intake is
shut due to a high river water contamination level. However, experts
believe that they will not have to resort to such measures. A laboratory
base of the Russian Federal Consumer Rights Protection and Human Health
Control Service (Rospotrebnadzor) and other structures has been prepared
for work in a round-the-clock regime. Interaction of all organisations and
services participating in the monitoring and ensuring safety of the
population has been organised in the Khabarovsk Territory and Jewish
Autonomous Region.
Dalgidromet and other agencies said earlier that the chemicals
contained in the barrels form non-toxic chemical products when they
inter-react with water. The probability of serious contamination of the
Amur River basin is extremely low as a result of these chemicals' getting
into the water because of the unsealing and explosion of several dozen
barrels.
According to earlier reports, 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.
"The Sungari water tests taken in the provinces Jilin and Heilongjiang
show that no excessive chemical pollution is registered in the river," a
source in the Chinese General Consulate in Khabarovsk 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," he noted. 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 trans-border 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.
-0-ezh/gor