Normal operations were resumed late Sunday at the Nanhua Waterworks, near Yingde, a city of one million residents in Guangdong province, the Beijing Times newspaper said.

The spill from a state-owned smelting works in Guangdong on December 15 had threatened water supplies to several cities in the province.

Tens of thousands along the Beijiang river lacked drinking water after the smelting works released excessive amounts of cadmium, which can cause neurological disorders and cancer.

Although the resumption at the waterworks was the most important in terms of cleaning up the river, other smaller cities downstream of Yingde are still at risk.

The newspaper quoted local officials as saying the reopening of the Nanhua waterworks was not only good news for Yingde, but could also offer an expample for downstream cities still threatened by the spill.

The toxic spill was China's second in as many months after a benzene slick from a factory in northeast China cut tap water to millions of city-dwellers in November.

The two spills have focused attention on water pollution in a country where millions still lack safe drinking water and most rivers are polluted by industrial and human waste.

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