Chinese town shuts water supply as toxic slick arrives

Residents of a town along a poisoned river in northern China today queued with jugs and buckets to get water from trucks after officials shut down running water to 26,000 people.

Local authorities said the shutdown in Dalianhe would last three days and Communist Party members went from door-to-door giving out bottled water in an effort to show that China’s leaders can protect the public.

Benzene was spewed into the Songhua River after an industrial accident on November 13.

Trucks filled with water were parked in neighbourhoods around Dalianhe, a town of about 30,000 people near Yilan.

“When one person has trouble, eight will lend a hand,” read a banner attached on the side of one of the vehicles. Workers stood by to help residents fill up their containers.

“This is just to have a little bit extra,” said Zhang Liping, 56, holding a six-gallon plastic jug. “We got plenty of warning. We have lots of water at home.”

Some trucks were from as far away as the provincial capital of Harbin, about 150 miles west, where water to 3.8 million people was shut down for five days because of the pollution.

The spill caused by a November 13 chemical plant explosion has embarrassed President Hu Jintao’s government, which has promised to clean up the environment and do more to help ordinary Chinese people.

In Yilan, news reports showed police and party members in red armbands going door-to-door in freezing weather, handing out leaflets and giving cases of drinking water to the elderly and poor. In one scene, an elderly man lying in bed shook hands with a police commander.

Riverfront parks were closed in Yilan, which lies at the confluence of the Songhua and Mudan Rivers, a famous scenic spot.

Communist leaders are eager to show that while they failed to prevent the spill, they are concerned about public safety and can marshal the resources to handle the aftermath.

The 50 mile-long slick is moving toward Russia and is expected to reach that country’s major border city of Khabarovsk by December 10-12.

The Songhua flows into the Heilong River, which becomes the Amur in Russia.