Jin, Wang; Chiachen, Huang; Houfu, Yan --- "Reflections from the Transboundary Pollution of Songhua River" [2008] ELECD 351; in Faure, Michael; Ying, Song (eds), "China and International Environmental Liability" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: China and International Environmental Liability

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; Ying, Song

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207524

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Reflections from the Transboundary Pollution of Songhua River

Author(s): Jin, Wang; Chiachen, Huang; Houfu, Yan

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

10. Reflections from the
transboundary pollution of
Songhua River
Wang Jin, Huang Chiachen and Yan Houfu

1 INTRODUCTION

The Songhua River, the third largest river in China, joins the Heilong
River after flowing through Harbin City and forms a natural border with
the Russian Federation. The river continues into Russia and is then
named the Amur River. The Amur River flows through Khabarovsk City,
of which the population is approximately 600,000, into the Bering Strait.
The Songhua River, the Heilong River and the Amur River are together
the main water supply for the cities and regions situated along those
rivers.
On 13 November 2005, an explosion accidentally occurred at a petro-
chemical plant owned by PetroChina Cooperation (`PetroChina'), which
was located in Jilin City, in the Jilin Province, China. The accident was
caused by an operational fault. After the accident occurred, heavy smoke
and dust was emitted into the sky above Jilin City. To prevent and to reduce
the amount of air pollution above and around Jilin City, the competent
authorities of Jilin Provincial Government used large amounts of water to
clean the explosion site. During the cleaning, the water was used to wash
off the explosion site and the residue. It was estimated that 100 tons of toxic
substances, made up of a mixture of benzene and nitrobenzene, was spilled
into the upper stream of the Songhua River. The contaminants in the
surface water highly exceeded the water safety standards permissible in
China.
On 22 November 2005, the ...