The cadmium slick on Guangdong's Beijiang River has been stopped by a dam at Yingde, ensuring water safety to downstream residents, according to Yingde municipal government sources quoted by China Daily yesterday.

Wang Zhensheng, a local government official, said the contaminated water had been stopped by the Baishiyao Dam, before assuring residents that "water in the lower stream is safe."

Wang said the upstream Mengzhou Dam will discharge 390 million cubic meters of clean water to dilute the cadmium, and that Feilaixia Dam further downriver has also been shut as a precaution to prevent the pollution spreading.

The local authorities will not reopen Baishiyao and Feilaixia Dams until the water returns to safe levels of toxicity, it was reported, but the time for that has not been fixed.

Experts have been testing water once every two hours at seven testing stations in Yingde.

The local government suspended the water supply there for several hours yesterday morning while an emergency pipeline was constructed, but it said the supply has since returned to normal.

Although the polluted water is still far from the downstream cities of Guangzhou and Foshan, authorities there have stepped up water testing

Xiao Yanbing, an official with the provincial environment protection bureau told China Daily: "Hopefully the polluted water will not reach either Guangzhou or Foshan, thanks to the authorities' prompt response and effective measures."

The river became heavily polluted with cadmium in wastewater discharged by Shaoguan Smelting Plant and was detected by Guangdong’s environment protection department on December 16, when levels were ten times above national safety limits.

(China Daily December 23, 2005)