100 tons of chemicals flowed into river
(China Daily/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-11-25 05:47

"We know where the toxic water is and how its density changes," said Li Weixiang, director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Environment Protection Bureau.

The slick, flowing at about 2 kilometres an hour, is expected to pass the city by Saturday morning.

The Harbin Water Purification Plant said it could restart water supply on Sunday, Xinhua reported.

Heilongjiang Governor Zhang Zuoji earlier vowed to "drink the first mouthful of water once the supply is resumed" to ease people's worry about water quality.

On the second day of the water-supply suspension, Harbin residents found it much easier to buy bottled water, which was readily available in shops and supermarkets.

"Now it is totally unnecessary to worry about buying water," said Teng Song, a postgraduate student of Harbin Institute of Technology.

The city has drilled 55 wells in three days, and more will be dug, the government said on its website.

But many people still chose to leave the city.

For the fourth day in a row, sales of air and rail tickets remained brisk as many were sending the elderly and the young to other places.

A saleswoman in Harbin North Ticket Centre, one of the largest in the city, told China Daily there was strong demand with tickets to Guangzhou and Shanghai sold out for yesterday.

Liu Yunlong, a businessman, said he would send his two sons to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province. "I can't afford to let anything happen to my children," he said.