Heilongjiang's governor Zhang Zuoji took the first sip as clean water was restored yesterday to the city of Harbin and its surroundings.

The Harbin Water Group, the city's water utility, says local radio and television stations will broadcast a color-based indicator of water safety over the next few days. They will use red for unusable, yellow for bathing only and green for drinking.

However the 50-mile spill of toxic benzene in the Songhua River was on its way to Russia, causing a diplomatic headache for China.

Officials in Russia's Khabarovsk are preparing emergency plans, including the possible shutdown of its water system.

A blast that killed one worker occurred Thursday in Dianjiang, a county in the Chongqing region, but authorities say the resulting spill is under control.

Sina.com also reported that the central city of Lengshuijiang had its water supply suspended for 12 hours last week after waste water containing ammonium nitrate was discharged into a nearby river.

With China's accelerated development, avoidable disasters have been increasing. "The situation will worsen as China's pace of urbanization and industrialization speeds up," said Wang Jikun, deputy director of the General Affairs Office of the Ministry of Public Security, during a meeting over the weekend.

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