Associated Press
April 11, 2002

Paper and chemical plants have long been cited as key sources of degradation of most of China’s waterways. In some areas, the problems have prompted riots by residents outraged by chronic health problems and the destruction of their fields and fish farms.

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Shanghai: About 300 million people living in China’s vast countryside drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants, the government said Thursday in its latest acknowledgment of mounting risks from widespread pollution. The most common threat to water, after drought, is chemical pollutants and other harmful substances that contaminate drinking supplies for 190 million people, state media quoted E Jingping, a vice minister for water resources, as saying. The report follows recent chemical spills in the northeast and south of the country that temporarily spoiled water supplies for millions of people and highlighted the severity of the pollution crisis.