Local environmental watchdog has ordered three enterprises held accountable for polluting a major water source in Mudanjiang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, to suspend operation Thursday.

Environment administrations of Mudanjiang and the neighboring Hailin City have investigated 23 industrial enterprises along the Hailang River, a major water supply source of Mudanjiang City, and found three of them were discharging pollutants above the national safety level.

The three enterprises being shut down for rectification are Hailin Xueyuan Distillery, the brewery of Hailin Beer, and a butchery of Hailin Food Company.

Experts said the distilleries had emitted a great deal of distillers' grains into the river, which led to fermenting and accelerated reproduction of the organisms as the weather is getting warmer.

Experts have confirmed Thursday that the flocs at the river is a type of aquatic fungus, whose appearance indicates the water becomes dirty or is polluted.

The water supply source of Mudanjiang is located at the lower reaches of the Hailang River, a tributary of the Mudanjiang River. Local people have built three nets in Hailang River to block the aquatic organism, which was detected on February 19 afternoon.

Local water supply corporation has sterilized its running water with chlorine. Tap water in the city is safe for drinking.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2006)