Another environmental disaster on Chinese river

China’s southern business capital of Guangzhou, just north of Hong Kong, was rushing today to safeguard its water supply as a toxic spill from a smelter flowed toward the city of seven million people, state media said.

It was China’s second environmental disaster in a month and came as authorities were trying to minimise the impact of a chemical spill on a north-eastern river that disrupted water supplies to millions of people in China and has flowed into Russia.