Pollution Holds Back Chinese Economic Development

The Chinese government's decision to cut potentially contaminated freshwater supplies to one of China's major cities has highlighted the threat that industrial pollution poses to public health and economic development across the nation.

Almost four million people in the northeastern city of Harbin, in Heilongjiang Province, are expected to be without running water until late Saturday after a chemical plant explosion contaminated the upper reaches of the nearby Songhua River with toxic benzene.

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