Tainted tap water sickens 1,000 in NE China

BEIJING, Jan 16, 2008 (AFP) - More than 1,000 residents have fallen ill with symptoms of poisoning in a northeastern Chinese city after drinking tainted tap water, state media reported Wednesday.

More than 2,636 households in the Gaode Garden community in Fuxin city in Liaoning Province were affected in the incident on January 9 and 1,139 residents have been given medical treatment, with 59 hospitalised, the Beijing News said.

Symptoms included vomiting, diarrhoea and dizziness, according to the newspaper.

Investigators said the water had been polluted because the flow in the community's sewers had been blocked.

Water pollution is a pressing problem in China, where more than 70 percent of the country's waterways and 90 percent of its underground water is contaminated, previously released government figures showed.

A panic broke out in May in the eastern city of Wuxi where millions hoarded bottled drinking water after public taps were tainted by an algae bloom in the nearby Taihu lake as a result of untreated sewage and high concentrations of chemicals.