The source of drinking water for local residents in Yueyang County in central China 's Hunan province has been found polluted with arsenide, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said in a press release on Saturday.

The accident has affected drinking water for the nearly 100,000 residents in the county, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

Residents in Yueyang county were asked to stop drinking tap water and 18 fire engines distributed fresh water, Xinhua said.

Fresh water from a nearby reservoir was being discharged into the river in an attempt to dilute the polluted water and accelerate the speed of water flow.

At 15:00 pm Friday, workers of the environmental monitoring center of Yueyang City conducted a routine measuring of water quality for Xinqiang River, the source for local water plant, and found that its content of arsenide was 10 times higher than official standards.

The incident drew great attention from the State Council and local governments. The provincial government of Hunan initiated an emergency plan for dealing with environmental accidents, while the SEPA has sent a group of officials and experts to the site.

A chemical plant in Linxiang city, 50km upriver, has been ordered to shut down after it was found leaking the toxin from its waste water pond.

Arsenide can damage the liver, kidney and cause lung or skin cancer, as well as cause convulsions which may lead to coma or even death.

Humans poisoned with arsenide may feel sick, vomit, get stomach pain, convulsion in limbs. It may lead to coma, twitch or even death.