Mine runoff pollutes drinking water

BEIJING – Mine runoff spilled into a central Chinese river, temporarily cutting off drinking water to more than 200,000 people, a state news agency reported.

The runoff from a lead-zinc mine polluted the Zijiang River in Hunan province on Thursday, cutting off supplies to the riverside city of Lengshuijiang and residents downstream, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It reported that more than 39,000 cubic yards of lead-zinc residue were washed into the river after a drain collapsed at the private Zhongtai Mining Corp.

China’s waterways are dangerously polluted. In 2005, water supplies in Lengshuijiang were cut for part of a day when a fertilizer maker accidentally spilled 130 cubic yards of ammonia nitrate into the river.

A chemical plant accident that year spewed tons of toxic nitrobenzene and other chemicals into north China’s Songhua river, forcing authorities to temporarily cut off water to millions of people.

In April, 150,000 villagers in southern China lost water access after authorities found high levels of lead and other heavy metals in the Honghe River in Guangxi province.