MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - A World Wildlife Fund expert said Thursday that the water polluted with chemicals following an accident at a Chinese petrochemical plant on November 13 would reach the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk December 3.
"We expect the spot to reach Khabarovsk by December 3," WWF Russia chief Alexei Kokorin said.
Chinese data shows that about 100 tons of chemicals were released into the Songhua River.
Kokorin said he believed there was benzene in the water.
"Water can be cleared of it if its temperature is increased up to 20 degrees [Celsius], which is evidently impossible. There are no others ways to get benzene out of the Songhua and then the Amur, so contamination is imminent," he said.
If benzene gets into the Amur River, water from the river will no longer be used in households and fish will die en masse. Benzene can cause headaches or, in large amounts, a loss of sight.
