A TOWN of more than 50,000 people in south China's Guangdong Province has warned its residents to stop drinking tap water after it was found to have 12 times more manganese than the national safety limit.

The manganese-tainted water came from Da'an Waterworks, one of the town's two water suppliers, which provides running water to more than 10,000 residents.

Tests are being carried out at the other water company, which uses the same water source from the local Luohe River. Results of these tests won't be known for several days.

Emergency notices have been put up on every busy street in town, warning residents not to drink tap water until further notice.

"We're trying to remedy the situation and will keep you posted," reads one written on scarlet paper.

A villager in Da'an Township surnamed Wang told the local Nanfang Daily that the bucket he used to store tap water had been blackened by residue from the water, something that had never happened before.

The head of the contaminated waterworks produced a water test result on Monday, showing there were 1.2 milligrams of manganese in every liter of tap water in the town. The national safety limit is 0.1 milligrams per liter.

High levels of the metal could harm people's nervous systems, cause tremors, and affect brain function.

The local Yangcheng Evening News quoted housewives as saying that residents suspected contamination six months ago when ceramic bowls began to turn dark, but they were told then that the water was safe.

The Da'an government ordered the water factory to warn residents of the risk, which set off panic buying of bottled water in supermarkets.

The villagers have also joined a rush for spring water in mountains near their homes.

"Many families have bought new pails. Some carry water on motorbikes while others use shoulder poles," villager Wang said.

Da'an has several spring water sources nearby so drinking water is not an immediate worry, said Huang Zhenyu, chief of the local government.

"Because it is impossible to get rid of manganese in water, the only thing we can do is to warn the villagers about drinking tap water until it is safe," a local government official told the evening newspaper.

Environmental protection authorities are investigating the contamination but still don't know what caused the manganese levels to surge.

Huang said that there was no manganese processing plant or mine around and it was the first manganese contamination case reported since the waterworks became operational in the 1980s.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• scarlet [´skɑ:lit] n.猩红色 a.猩红的 (初中英语单词)
• nervous [´nə:vəs] a.神经的；神经过敏的 (初中英语单词)
• affect [ə´fekt] vt.影响；感动；假装 (初中英语单词)
• function [´fʌŋkʃən] n.机能；职责 vi.活动 (初中英语单词)
• protection [prə´tekʃən] n.警戒；护照；通行证 (初中英语单词)
• emergency [i´mə:dʒənsi] n.事变；紧急关头 (高中英语单词)
• remedy [´remidi] n.药品 vt.医治；减轻 (高中英语单词)
• bucket [´bʌkit] n.水桶 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
• township [´taunʃip] n.乡；区 (英语四级单词)
• villager [´vilidʒə] n.村民 (英语六级单词)