Broken pipe leaves 300,000 in Xi'an without water

Company that was burying cables believed to be responsible

Some 300,000 residents in the Chang'an district of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, will be without a water supply for five days after local construction workers cut the main supply pipe late on Wednesday afternoon.

Residents line up to get water with basins and pots from a water pipe in the yard of Model Town community on Thursday. Ye Yuan / for China Daily

The district water bureau confirmed that the main water supply pipe was damaged around 4 pm on Wednesday, and that the repairs now need the supply to be cut from 7 pm on Thursday, to 7 pm on Sept 18.

The bureau has advised local residents to store water, and is to supply water to residents via water tankers.

"We will try our hardest to repair the pipe and restore the water supply as soon as possible," Lei Suimin, the deputy director of the bureau, told China Daily on Friday.

"The amount of water flowing from the break means we have no choice but to cut it off - it would have been too difficult to repair otherwise," added Lei.

China Daily learned that a firm burying underground cables was responsible for the break, and that 300,000 people in 67 residential districts have been affected.

Wang Yeyun, 26, who is 3 months pregnant, said that she's had to stay with her mother because of the problems.

"I had no water in my kitchen and toilet and I couldn't carry water to my house as I live on a high floor. So I just had to go to my mother's house," she said.

Homes, shops, restaurants, schools and hospitals have also been left with water supply problems.

A shop owner surnamed Xiang told China Daily her shop usually sells around 100 bottles of water a day, but that she'd sold out her entire stock of 200 bottles by late Wednesday afternoon.

"I then got another 1,000 bottles delivered, and they sold out by the end of the day," she said.

According to water officials, the district government has organized 20 water tankers to bring supplies to local communities, and it has set up 21 temporary water supply stations, each with around 600 large water buckets, to help people carry water to their homes.

"With the tankers and stations, we will ensure local people get water, and we will make every effort to get supplies back to normal," said Lei.

malie@chinadaily.com.cn