Chinese authorities are scrambling to protect the drinking water for tens of millions of people after a massive fuel leak into the Yellow River spilled into a reservoir yesterday.

A diesel pipeline from Lanzhou, in Gansu province, to Changsha, in Hunan province, was found leaking last Wednesday near the Chishui River, a tributary of the Weihe River, which flows into the Yellow River. The fuel reached the Sanmenxia reservoir on the Yellow River despite a huge effort to halt its spread.

The Sanmenxia reservoir stopped generating electricity and dammed the river on Sunday to prevent polluted water flowing in.

At an emergency meeting yesterday, Vice-Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun called for the protection of drinking water.

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