"All public utilities have been put into high alert," Shoigu said. "Emergencies commissions have carried out inspections in the Jewish Autonomous and Khabarovsk regions. The Emergencies Situations Ministry is prepared to deliver water and suspend water supply in the cities within the affected area."
Following an explosion in a Chinese petrochemicals plant on November 13, about 100 metric tons of benzene spilled into the Songhua River, a tributary of the Amur, which forms a natural border between Russia and China.
Experts expect the contaminated water to reach Russian territory Monday and cross the Khabarovsk region for five or seven days, Shoigu said.
"Water supply has been resumed in Harbin [a Chinese city on the Songhua], and the Harbin mayor drank a glass of water from the water supply intake," Shoigu said. "We hope the concentration [of benzene] will not surpass the expected maximum level."
