CHINA: February 19, 2008


BEIJING - China has reassured residents in a south China city that their water is safe to drink after an oil pollution scare at the weekend left 100,000 residents cut off from supplies, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.


Much of the city of Foshan, in the Hong Kong border province of Guangdong, was without water for several hours on Saturday after a white, foul-smelling slick was spotted in the Xijiang River, forcing an emergency operation to clean up the spill.

"Tests show the water was safe to drink, but we will keep on monitoring the water quality in the river," Xinhua quoted an official surnamed Li in Foshan's publicity department as saying.

China is fighting widespread environmental degradation that threatens many of its vital water sources.

In 2005, millions of residents in the northern city of Harbin were without water for weeks after an explosion at an industrial plant sent toxic chemicals streaming into the Songhua River.

Last week, a Chinese tanker truck carrying more than 30 tonnes of sulphuric acid crashed in the southwest of the country, spilling its load and causing what state media described as "serious pollution".

Environment officials were investigating the source of the spill in the Xijiang, a tributary of the Pearl River.

(Reporting by Lindsay Beck, editing by Ken Wills and Sanjeev Miglani)


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE