CHANGCHUN: Water supply to about 100,000 people in the western part of Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, was cut off yesterday for a few hours due to the outbreak of blue algae in a reservoir.

Shitoukoumen and Xinlicheng are the two major reservoirs that supply water to Changchun.

The local government shut off the water supply from Xinlicheng because of the pollution.

The environmental de-partment found Shitoukoumen Reservoir had not been affected.

Only about 24,700 people who live in Luyuan district are still without supply.

The fire brigade ferried about 855 tons of water to the regions hit, and will continue until full supply can be resumed, Song Hongfen, team leader of the Changchun fire brigade, said.

The government has taken measures to clean up the Xinlicheng Reservoir.

Two nets stretching hundreds of meters have been placed on the reservoir's surface and boats are busy collecting the algae.

The algae is believed to have been caused by farm fertilizers, according to the vice-mayor of Changchun, Wang Xuezhan.

The abnormal hot and dry weather since late last month is also partly responsible.

The algae first began to appear in Xinlicheng Reservoir on July 5 and quickly spread.

"To meet the demands of residents, Changchun will introduce a campaign to save water, large industries will be urged to use less water," the mayor of Changchun, Cui Jie, said.

Changchun has a population of more than 7 million, with 2.7 million living in the downtown area.

(China Daily 07/18/2007 page4)