The city of Lanzhou – the capital of northwest Gansu Province in China – has been dealing with tap water contamination. It has been reported that on April 11, 2014, the city’s authorities worked all night in order to fight the contamination problem, as well as to resume water safety on April 12, 2014.
Reports said that significant levels of benzene were reported in the city’s tap water on April 11, 2014. The local government issued a warning to citizens not to drink tap water for at least 24 hours, until April 12, 2014. The water works of Lanzhou constantly washed the filter system in an attempt to clean up pollutant on April 11, 2014 and maintained water cycling in order to cleanse the urban tap water pipeline.
Starting from 12:45 am, there were no levels of benzene found in the four tests conducted on samples, which were taken from two surveillance sites in Chengguan and Qilihe districts. However, some traces of benzene were still discovered in water samples which were taken in the outer Xigu and Anning districts. The document said that remnant pollutant was washed away from the filter system, but it was not clarified when the tap water will be safe for drinking again.
The water contamination problem cause panic among the city’s citizens on April 11, 2014.
Photo Credits: Telegraph
