Polluted river water poisons 34 people
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-21 06:41

Thirty-four people in China's southern Guangdong province were taken to hospital suffering stomach pains and vomiting after drinking poisoned water from a local river, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Investigations showed mineral processing factories upstream had contaminated the river in Yingde city.

China's waterways are regarded as among the most polluted in the world, with severe shortages also a major concern.

"(China is) facing a water crisis more severe and urgent than any other country in the world," Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing told a conference in Beijing last month.

"We've got to solve the problem before it is too late."

China's water supply is too small for its huge population of 1.3 billion people, Qiu said, highlighting that five of China's seven major rivers are seriously polluted.