Chemical Plant Blast Threatens Water Supply Of 4 Million In China....

An explosion and fire November 13th at a chemical plant threatens the water supply of 4 million residents of Harbin, China in China's industrial northeast. The interesting thing here, is that water supply has been reduced for 4 days by city officials. Finally, they admitted after lying that the water supply has been reduced due to system maintenance, that it was actually reduced due to fears of contamination by chemicals from the plant.

The city government yesterday made a U-turn by admitting that fears of water contamination in Songhua River, which supplies the capital of Heilongjiang Province, were behind the city's four-day water supply cut.

On Monday, it rejected such fears as "just a rumour," saying the stoppage scheduled to begin late last night was for a thorough check of the water-supply system.

Its amazing to me that the first things that officials do in China is lie to their citizens. I am sure that this is standard operating procedure for Chinese officials in almost any case. Lie before telling the truth on everything. They haven't gotten it through their incredibly thick skulls in China, that people have a right to know what is going on, particularly if it impacts their health and that the duty of local officials is to protect these people's health.