A water quality monitoring ship, believed to be the most sophisticated Chinese-made vessel, began its maiden voyage on the Yangtze River Wednesday.
The ship was designed by the Yangtze Shipping Design Institute and produced by the Jiangxin Shipyard in Jiangxi Province. It is equipped with radar, a satellite positioning device and two laboratories. It runs at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, increasing the speed of the older types of similar vessels by 20 percent.
Scientists can extract water 100 meters beneath the water surface and analyze the water quality, aquatic life and bottom sampling on board the ship, thus saving the time of travel to a laboratory on land.
After the operation of the monitoring ship, the scope of surveillance will be concentrated on the main stream and major tributaries of the Yangtze, covering much larger areas that were not touched before.
(People's Daily 11/02/2000)
