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Excessive benzene found in NW China tap water
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More than 2.4 million people in downtown Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, have been affected by tap water found to contain excessive levels of benzene, provincial authorities said today.
Tests carried out in the early hours of today showed that local tap water contained 200 micrograms of benzene per liter, far exceeding the national limit of 10 micrograms per liter, according to the city's environmental protection office.
The city government warned citizens not to drink tap water in the next 24 hours.
Yesterday, tests found that the water contained 118 micrograms of benzene per liter, according to Veolia Water, a Sino-French joint venture and the sole water supplier for the urban areas of Lanzhou, the provincial capital.
Benzene is a colorless chemical which is often used to make plastics. Excessive benzene can increase the risk of cancer.
The local government is investigating the source of the contamination. The departments of heath and environmental protection were ordered to take more samples for examination and to monitor the pollution respectively.
Sources with Veolia told Xinhua that they believed that the excessive benzene was caused by chemical plant waste water that contaminated the channel of the Veolia's supply networks, but they refused to name the plant or plants in question.
The sources also denied the possibility that the Yellow River, the water source of the water plant, was polluted.
In a statement this afternoon, the provincial government's publicity office recounted Veolia's speculation and reaffirmed that the Yellow River, which runs across the city, is not contaminated.
Lanzhou residents panicked upon hearing the news, rushing to supermarkets or community grocery stores to stock up on bottled water.
At the Hualian Supermarket, one of the largest of its kind in downtown Lanzhou, many consumers had their trolleys or baskets full of cases of bottled water.
Latecomers gathered in front of empty shelves, waiting for resupply.
"I had no idea what benzene was. But my family are all scared. My husband called to ask me to come here and snap up as much bottled water as I can," Ms. Luo told Xinhua.
This is the second case of tap water pollution in Lanzhou in two months. On March 6, residents reported smelling a strange odor when they turned on their taps.
The local government later confirmed that the concentration of nitrogen and ammonia was higher than usual, but still within the limits of the national standard.
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