Chinese court dismisses water pollution lawsuit

A Chinese court has rejected a lawsuit filed by five residents from a major northwestern city after authorities said a cancer-inducing chemical had been found in tapwater at 20 times above national safety levels, state media reported on Tuesday. Levels of benzene, a cancer-inducing chemical, in Lanzhou's tap water rose 20 times above national safety levels on Friday, forcing the city to turn off supplies in one district and warn other residents not to drink tap water for the next 24 hours. Monday's ruling is a setback for environmentalists, who have argued that courts need to accept pollution lawsuits for proper environmental reform to occur. The lawsuit, filed on Monday afternoon, sought civil damages, a public apology and data from water quality testing in the past year from Lanzhou Veolia Water Co., a local unit of French firm Veolia Environment, according to the Modern Jinbao newspaper, citing Wu Tianying, one of the Lanzhou residents who filed the suit.



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