HARBIN, Nov. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The suspended water supply in Harbin will be resumed in four days, Shi Zhongxin, mayor of this capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said Thursday.

    The government will try all out to resume water supply in four days, said Shi, noting that the quality of water will be ensured although the supply may be discontinuous.

    The water had better be used for ordinary household purposes instead of drinking in the initial period of water supply again, for there is sedimentation in the pipes, the mayor said.

    It will take about four days for the toxic 80-km-long slick of the polluted Songhua River, which entered Harbin Thursday morning from the upper stream, to pass the city, according to technical calculations.

    The municipal government will take measures to purify the water immediately after the high density of pollutants left, according to the mayor.

    Experts from the state environment authority and various regions are busy working on the technical scheme of water treatment, he said. Songhua River is the main source of drinking water in Harbin.

    The water cut-off, started early Wednesday morning due to toxic benzene contamination, "has brought about great troubles to people's lives and is a test of the local government's administrative capacity," Shi said. Enditem