Word: songhua
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Songhua river in northeastern China doesn't have the history of the Mekong, the spirituality of the Ganges or the sheer power of the Yangtze. But in November 2005, this 1,200-mile (2,000 km) waterway made headlines when a chemical plant in the Chinese city of Jilin spilled massive amounts of the toxic chemical benzene, creating a 50-mile (80 km) noxious slick. The chemicals oozed toward the sea, and Chinese cities that drank from the Songhua were forced to cut off supplies, leaving millions to fend for themselves. As the slick passed over the border...
...Songhua incident is a reminder that in Asia, a region of the world where water is often scarce and often polluted, managing that indispensable resource is vital. Asia is already the world's driest inhabited continent per capita, and as its population, urbanization and dirty industrialization grow - and global warming dries out the region - clean water will only become more precious. As a just-released report by the Asia Society argues, water will become the key to regional security in the 21st century - and Asia isn't ready. "This is a fundamental resource that we need to survive," says Suzanne...
...Songhua River...
...Last November, the Songhua River (in the northeast of the country) absorbed 100 metric tons of toxic benzene after an explosion at a chemical plant. The extent of the danger was made public only after household taps for 9 million people in the city of Harbin had been shut off, and just days before the slick crossed the border into Russia. The botched response led to the dismissal of China's top environmental official and to renewed calls for transparency and stricter enforcement of environmental standards. But little has changed. Recently Pan Yue, deputy director of China's State Environmental...
RESIGNED. XIE ZHENHUA, 56, Director of China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA); in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion, which spewed 100 tons of pollutants into the Songhua River; in Beijing. Xie is the highest-ranking official to lose his job over an environmental disaster. Official reports gave no details on Xie's role in government decisions to withhold information from the public about the river contamination, which resulted in a four-day shut-off of water for more than 3 million people in the city of Harbin. The poisonous slick, expected to reach the Russian...