Toxic tap water

This incident took place in the Chinese city of Jilin in November 2005, and saw a series of explosions at a petrochemical plant. In the immediate aftermath of the blasts, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from the local area. That’s bad enough, but it’s not the full story. The explosions released 100 tonnes of pollutants into the Songhua River, and that was a big deal because several large cities depend on that river for their water supply. Water was cut off for several days while the water supplies were cleaned up, and water had to be transported from unaffected cities to help people cope.

Water supplies were disrupted for days after toxic chemicals leaked into rivers