A central China city suspended water supplies to more than 30,000 residents on Tuesday after waste water containing toxic chemicals was discharged into the Yangtze River.

 

 

On Tuesday morning a chemical company workshop caught fire in Zhijiang City, Hubei Province, a Hubei newspaper reported.

 

As firefighters were extinguishing the blaze water containing the toxic para benzoquinon chemical seeped into the city's sewage pipeline network and was discharged into the Yangtze River, local environment authorities discovered.  

 

The company said about half of the six tons of para benzoquinon that had been stored in the workshop had been lost.  

 

Local authorities immediately ordered water plants out of service in the city's Jiangkou and Qixingtai districts. They’re downstream of the sewage outfall. They notified people living along the river not to drink the water.

 

The authorities also set up monitoring posts along the river 10 kilometers downstream from the outfall to sample the water.

 

The water supply cut affected more than 30,000 residents. At noon local water stations briefly diverted water from a reservoir to resume supplies to schools.

 

The city's water supply returned to normal about 6:30 PM on Tuesday. Local authorities have not received any reports of people or livestock being poisoned.

 

(Shanghai Daily November 30, 2006)