Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake    

·The water level of the Tangjiashan quake lake was still dropping on Wednesday.
·The drainage of the swollen lake was declared " a decisive victory" on Tuesday.
·More than half of the 250-million-cubic-meter volume had been discharged.

     MIANYANG, Sichuan, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The water level of the Tangjiashan quake lake in southwest China's Sichuan Province was still dropping on Wednesday, while experts warned that dangers remain.

    As of 2 p.m., the level had fallen to 714.13 meters from the highest mark of 743.1 meters with the lake volume at about 86.1 million cubic meters. The lake was draining at a rate of 56 cubic meters a second, according to the quake lake relief headquarters in Mianyang. 
 

The combo photos taken respectively on June 8 (top L), 11 a.m. (bottom L), 2 p.m (top R). and 3 p.m. on June 10 show different water levels near a railway bridge in Mianyang City, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Xinhua Photo)
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    Liu Qibao, Communist Party chief of Sichuan Province, declared on Tuesday the drainage of the swollen lake was "a decisive victory".

    More than half of the 250-million-cubic-meter volume had been discharged and the number of people under threat had dropped from 1.3 million to less than 50,000, said Liu.

    However, Water Resources Minister Chen Lei warned that dangers posed by the lake remained although the water level was likely to linger around 720 meters for some time.

    "There are still some 86 million cubic meters in the lake, which is subject to the threat of aftershocks, landslides, heavy rain," he said.

    "Another major test for us is coming as the flood season approaches. The best situation is to completely clear the water from the Tangjiashan lake before the flood season," Chen said.

    Chen said experts with the ministry would fly to the lake area to conduct geological studies and assess the risks on Wednesday and Thursday.

    "The 250,000 relocated residents of Mianyang are expected to return home in another two days as the flow continues," he said.

    The Tangjiashan quake lake was formed after quake-triggered landslides from Tangjiashan Mountain blocked the Tongkou River running through Beichuan County, one of the worst-hit areas in theMay 12 quake. It began to drain on Saturday morning through a manmade spillway.

    The drained water flooded the quake-ravaged Beichuan County, then safely passed Mianyang on the Fujiang River on Tuesday, and arrived at Tongnan County, in Chongqing Municipality, at around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

    The Mianyang government said city water networks had suspended intake from the Fujiang River since Tuesday night as the local water quality monitoring center found the water was contaminated by the lake outflow.

    "The muddy outflow is accompanied with lots of flotsam. Reports from five monitoring stations on the Fujiang River shows the river has been polluted and is not potable," said an official with the center, adding the water quality is expected to return to normal in half a month.

    The water supply for more than 500,000 people in Mianyang urban areas now come from underground reserves before the river water quality improved and the government would ensure 50 liters of drinking water for per person per day, according to the city government.

    The Mianyang Water Affairs Group Limited, which is in charge of more than 80 percent of the water supply for the city's urban districts, resumed intake from Fujiang River at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

    "But water supply won't resume until the intake sample passes official examination," said Zhang Yuchuan, a manager with the group.

    Though the swollen Fujiang River has not caused flooding in Chongqing, the municipality, a neighbor of the quake-hit Sichuan, also prepared for the potential water pollution.

    The Fujiang River entered the Jialing River, a major water source of Chongqing's urban districts, home to 7 million people, on Wednesday morning at Hechuan County.

    Chongqing's environmental protection department has kept a close eye on the water quality and issued monitoring reports every two hours.

    "So far, the Jialing River's water quality is okay, but if it is found to be polluted, we will close intakes from Jialing and the water supply will all come from the Yangtze River," said an official with the city's waterworks company, who declined to be named.

    Chongqing's urban districts have nine intakes from the Jialing River. Even if they were all closed, the water supply would have been guaranteed to meet the need, said the official.

Picture taken on June 10, 2008 from a helicopter shows flood submerge part of Beichuan County in southewest China's Sichuan Province.The influx and outflow of the lake reached a balance at the current water level, according to the Tangjiashan Lake emergency rescue headquarters on Tuesday. The lake's dam was also more secure after the water level in the lake reduced to between 720 and 721 meters at 5 p.m.  (Xinhua Photo)
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