Rare low temperatures following 3-days of the heaviest snowfall
in sixteen years, froze and broke a water main as well as hundreds
of water meters in Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei
Province.
The local newspaper Changjiang Times reports that
thousands of local residents are now left with difficulty in
accessing clean drinking water.
Residents clear ice away
from a broken water meter leak in a living compound in
Wuhan,?capital city of central China's Hubei Province,
on?January 16, 2008.
The 1.2-meter-diameter water main cracked on Tuesday morning
prompting more than 70 plumbers to rush in for repairs. Deterred by
the bad weather, the repair work was still underway on Wednesday
night.
Three pumps from the local fire service were being used to
supply 140-tons of water to residents in the affected areas for
their daily use.
Water leaks in other areas of the city were also causing
problems. Requests for repairs to water pipes, meters and other
facilities jammed the phone lines at the water authority. The
Hankou Branch of the Water Supply Company alone received 588 calls
on Tuesday.
Water officials say 40% of the city's supply network was built
two to three decades earlier and can not stand up to the extreme
weather and will gradually be modernized in the future.
(CRI January 17, 2008)
