Northeast China's Jilin Province has launched an environmental overhaul over the enterprises along river banks in a bid to ensure safe drinking water, following a recent major water pollution incident on the Songhua River.

Enterprises along the banks of major rivers in the province, such as the Songhua River, Liaohe River, Hunjiang River and Nenjiang River will be checked up, especially those businesses located in the upper reaches of drinking water sources or near the concentrated residential areas, according to the provincial bureau of environmental protection.

Businesses engaged in chemical industry, papermaking and food processing, and the storing places or sources of dangerous wastes, will also be overhauled, the bureau said.

Those enterprises that fail to meet safety standards will be suspended from operation or closed in the overhaul, which will last till the end of the year, it said.

A chemical plant blast took place on November 13 in Jilin City of Jilin Province, which spilled benzene and nitrobenzene into the Songhua River, causing a five-day water cutoff in the downstream city Harbin, capital of neighboring Heilongjiang Province in late November.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2005)