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Residents of Wuxi, in east China's Jiangsu Province, let out a long sigh of relief as water returned to normal two weeks after a lake pollution crisis that shut off drinking water for more than 1 million people.

 

Yuan Yuan, an employee in a Wuxi trading company, said "The tap water smells ok again. I can take a bath and wash clothes using water from the tap, but I still buy bottled water to drink although my friends drink from the tap water," adding "I can't help worrying that the same kind of thing may happen again."

 

Water in the Gonghu part of Taihu Lake that provides drinking water for booming Wuxi became drinkable after water was diverted from the Yangtze River to flush out pollution. Chemicals were also used to neutralize the blue algae and 6,000 tons of algae were scooped up, said an official from Wuxi waterworks on Thursday.

 

Continuous rain during the past few days also helped the lake recover, the official said.

 

To prevent similar algae outbreaks in the future, authorities say they have deployed ships and installed instruments to monitor water quality around the clock.

 

The Taihu lake crisis began late last month, when a low water level in the lake and the accumulation of waste and untreated sewage triggered the rapid growth of blue algae, turning the water putrid and cutting the supply of freshwater to Wuxi.

 

All the towns around Taihu have been ordered to establish sewage treatment plants and chemical factories will have to meet a new water emission standard that tightens criteria on sulfur dioxide emissions and chemical oxygen demand.

 

The 20,000 chemical plants in the Taihu valley have had a drastic effect on the water quality of the lake.

 

But, according to officials, the clock is now ticking for the polluting factories. Chemical factories that fail to meet the standard by the end of June 2008 will be permanently shut down.

 

Five officials in Yixing city who were accused of dereliction of duty in the wake of the Taihu Lake pollution crisis received demerits and demotions.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2007)