2nd Chinese city shuts own water plant

Farther downstream, residents of the Russian border city of Khabarovsk bracing for the arrival of the polluted water vented their anger at China.

The shutdown Friday in Jiamusi, a city of about half a million people, came as China's chief environmental regulator resigned, taking the blame for the Nov. 13 chemical spill into the Songhua River in China's northeast.

The disaster has disrupted water supplies to millions of people living along the river and strained relations with Russia.

The benzene from a chemical plant explosion upstream is expected to reach Jiamusi on Tuesday, according to the government.