Chinese and Russian environmental researchers have wound up the
second national-level joint test this year on water quality of
their border rivers.
Researchers extracted samples at nine sites along the Ergun,
Heilongjiang, Wusuli and Suifen rivers, and Xingkai Lake. They have
finished lab analysis based on each country's standards, sources
with the State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA)
said.
Much data was gathered to determine chemical oxygen demand
(COD), heavy metal contents, and pesticides. Scientists tested
riverbed mud to determine the water quality in cross-border water
bodies.
The two sides have also exchanged statistics and will meet again
in the near future to discuss specifics on what work needs to be
done on which sections of the rivers.
It is second joint operation this year since China and Russia
signed the Joint Monitoring Plan on Border Rivers in 2006, after an
explosion at a Chinese chemicals plant sent nitrobenzene and other
chemicals into the Songhua River that flows into the Heilongjiang
in 2005. The contamination forced Harbin, the capital of
Heilongjiang in China's northeast, to temporarily stop water
supplies to 3.8 million residents. The plan requires both sides to
operate the testing program for five years from 2007. The first
such test was carried out in June this year. Before the plan, joint
river monitoring work had been carried out at lower levels between
Heilongjiang Province and Russia's Khabarovsk
since 2002.
(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)
