A toxic slick caused by a smeltery in the Beijiang River in southern Guangdong Province has threatened the water safety of approximately 100,000 people living along the lower reaches, the local government said Tuesday.

The TV station in Yingde, a city of 1.06 million people, broadcast a notice Tuesday evening to warn its residents to not directly drink the tap water due to toxic contamination in the upper reaches of the Beijiang River.

So far, people's lives remains normal along the 470-kilometer-long Beijiang River, which runs north to south into the Zhujiang (Pearl) River, according to the provincial environment protection department.

The environment protection departments have found in the smeltery in Shaoguan City, which is about 90 km north of Yingde, an excessive discharge of waste, making the volume of cadmium in the river section in Shaoguan surge nearly 10 times above the safety standard and "seriously endangering" the water safety in the river's lower riches.

The state-owned smeltery has halted operation and closed the waste water outlet blamed for excessive discharge, according to the environment protection office of Shaoguan City.

The density of cadmium is dropping and the polluted water is slow moving to Yingde, according to the latest report from the provincial environment protection, which did not to say when the toxic stretch would arrive Yingde.

In addition, the provincial government has decided to dilute the polluted water by increasing the discharge of the water reservoirs at neijiang's upper reaches, according to experts who arrived at Yingde on Sunday with You jingfeng, vice governor of Guangdong.

"We suggested to discharge more than 70 million cubic meters of water from a reservoir and the diluted water will be safe enough to drink," said an expert who declined to give his name.

Yingde has begun to build a 1.4-km-long water line to send safety water to the urban district, where more than 100,000 people live, from a reservoir in a suburb.

In addition, a large quantity of water carriers, including 15 fire engines, have been used to send drinking water to the urban district.

An investigation team, comprised of officials from the provincial supervision department and environment protection department, have been set up to investigate the water pollution.

Shaoguan also launched an examination on pollution control of all the factories, according to the provincial government.

The neijiang River is the major water resource to the cities in northern Guangdong, with an annual supply of 6 billion cubic meters.

Editor: Yan