Water in Donggang, a city of 150,000 people, was cut off on Tuesday when a sluice pipe burst at a nearby mine, sending tailings containing poisonous cyanogen pouring into a reservoir, Xinhua news agency said.

Supplies were restored on Wednesday, once experts had ensured that the water posed no health risk to consumers, the report said.

The incident at the Wulong Mining Co was being investigated.

Chemical spills with serious health consequences are common in China.

In 2005, a massive chemical plant spill into northeast China's Songhua River resulted in drinking water supply cuts affecting millions of residents in Heilongjiang province.

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