Russian city braces itself as toxic slick nears
Residents of the far eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk stocked up on water today before the arrival of a toxic chemical slick that could force authorities to shut off water and central heating despite subzero temperatures.
The chemicals that spilled last month from a factory explosion upriver in China were expected to reach the city by tomorrow. Hot water supplies might have to be suspended for as long as seven days and cold water for as long as three days, the regional governor said.
“We hope we can deal with the situation but we have to prepare ourselves for a cut-off of water supplies,” Governor Viktor Ishaev was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.
The spill was about 44 miles up the Amur River from city limits and it was unclear when exactly the slick would arrive, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Sergei Vlasov said.
The November 13 chemical plant explosion dumped 100 tons of toxins into northeastern China’s Songhua River, disrupting water supplies to millions of Chinese and straining relations with neighbouring Russia.
Apartment blocks in this city of 580,000, where daytime temperatures hovered around -20 C (-4 F), are overwhelmingly warmed by water heated at central facilities. Authorities said they may have to shut down that central heating to stop the chemicals from entering municipal pipes.
Dmitry Kotenev, a 60-year-old retired serviceman, bought two 1.3-gallon bottles of water and plastic cutlery and plates and pounds of frozen fish. He said his apartment was full of water stored in canisters, washing bowls and cooking pots.
“This is a Khabarovsk resident’s New Year reserves,” he said.
Others, like Galina Osipova, opted to leave the city. The 30-year-old waited in line to buy a plane ticket to Moscow, 3,800 miles away.
“I don’t have any faith in the authorities and I have decided to wait out the effects of this spill with my relatives in Moscow,” she said.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov downplayed the threat to Khabarovsk residents’ health and praised co-operation with China.
“All necessary measures are being taken,” he told reporters. “There is no threat whatsoever for residents of these Russian regions thanks to the measures which have been taken.”
Russia has laboured since the news of the spill to try and minimise the effect on Khabarovsk by using tons of charcoal to filter the water and building temporary dams.
Russian television showed Chinese workers piling sand and rock across one waterway in a bid to prevent the toxins from reaching three water treatment facilities. Trucks and a Russian-made Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter were being used.
“We are doing everything to finish building the dam,” Vladimir Popov, the regional official in charge of Russia’s spill containment efforts, told journalists.
Later, he expressed concern that the contaminated water had already got past the dam, telling a local television station that the area smelled of chemicals.
