Water supplies have finally returned to thousands of families in the disaster-hit province of Sichuan, after lines were cut for more than 24 hours in areas of Chengdu upon heavy-rain-caused mudslides along the upper reaches of Minjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River and a water source for the provincial capital.

The downpour, which lasted from last Tuesday until Friday, wreaked havoc throughout the province, which is undergoing reconstruction following the Wenchuan earthquake last year.

Three treatment plants in Chengdu that process water from Minjiang River were forced to shut down on Friday afternoon due to the level of pollution.

It meant supplies were cut to the most in the east and west of the city, and only restored around 9 a.m. Sunday, a worker of the Chengdu Waterworks Company, was quoted as saying by Monday's China Daily.

The firm sent more than 20 trucks to collect water from other plants in order to supply residents.

The upper reaches of Minjiang River are vulnerable to geological disasters, said Fan Xiao, an engineer at Sichuan Geology and Mineral Resource and Exploitation Bureau.

Local authorities are now drawing up new emergency water shortage plans, which will include a measure to take water from Beisha River in Dujiangyan.

Beichuan county, one of the areas worst-hit by the May 12 quake last year, also suffered flooding and mudslides from the storm.

More than 43,600 people from 50 villages were affected, costing the authorities an estimated 100 million yuan (14.6 million U.S. dollars).

Landslides also destroyed some of the buildings in the zone now regarded as a "Beichuan earthquake relic", as well as the newly built road to the Tangjiashan "quake lake".

Source:Xinhua