Environmental Controversy
In November 2005, the river was contaminated with benzene, leading to a shutdown of Harbin's water supply and threats of a Russian lawsuit against China. The spill stretched 80 kilometers and eventually reached the Amur River in Russia.
On July 28, 2010, several thousand barrels were washed away by floods from two chemical plants in China's Jilin province. Barrels contained some toxic chemicals like Trimethylsilyl chloride and Hexamethyldisiloxane, about 170 kg of a poisonous substance in each. There were reports that some barrels exploded on contact with water.
Read more about this topic: Songhua River
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)