Panic in Gansu capital after tap water found ‘excessively’ contaminated with benzene
Residents strip supermarket shelves of bottled supplies after city government warns that contamination was 20 times safety level
Panicking residents in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, Gansu, swarmed supermarkets to clear bottled water off the shelves yesterday after authorities warned the city's drinking water contained excessive levels of a carcinogenic chemical.
The Lanzhou government yesterday afternoon asked residents not to drink tap water for 24 hours, Xinhua reported. The water supply was cut off in one industrial district, after tests taken in the morning showed benzene levels had reached 200 micrograms per litre - 20 times the national safety limit.
The widely used industrial chemical, when ingested through food or drinks, can cause vomiting, dizziness, convulsions and even death in large enough doses.
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Photos posted online showed residents waiting in long queues to buy bottled water. A shop assistant in the city said: "I was delivering cartons of bottled water to a nearby store, but the van was stopped on the way by shoppers who snapped up all the water in minutes."
To help allay public fears, the government said carbon filtering was being used to absorb the chemical, and insisted the tap water was safe for "household uses other than drinking" - a claim that raised concerns with some environmental experts.
Du Sha, a Greenpeace toxins specialist, said benzene was harmful even by indirect contact.
"The level of the benzene was already 20 times the national safety limit … tap water is not only unsafe for drinking, it will also irritate eyes and skin when used for washing," Du said.