A leak from a Chinese chemical plant into a river has polluted water supplies for more than 4,100 people, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. The spill of turpentine from a plant in the eastern province of Anhui contaminated the Jindong River on Thursday, Xinhua said. Authorities warned residents not to use water from the river and sent fire engines to distribute water.

Many residents and more than 1,100 primary and secondary school students in the area drank the polluted water before they were warned about the incident, but so far have shown no symptoms of poisoning, Xinhua said. Such incidents are common in China s industrial areas. An arsenide pollution case in Hunan province this month cut water supplies to 80,000 people, and an explosion at a chemical plant in northeast China last year poured toxic benzene compounds into the Songhua River, which supplies water to millions.
(Planet Ark, 25/09/2006)