About 50 people were hospitalized Tuesday after drinking tap water with excessive levels of copper and chlorine in east Jiangxi Province, local health authorities said.

The victims were workers at a construction site in an industrial park in the city of Ruichang and nearby residents, said an official with the city's health inspection institute.

The victims complained about indigestion, and some even suffered from nausea and vomiting, said the official.

A preliminary investigation found excessive levels of copper and chlorine in the tap water, and the contamination might have occurred at two points in the water pipeline network.

The local government has shut down the pipelines and transported clean water to the construction sites and nearby homes, according to the government's information office.