SHANGHANG, Fujian - Ministry of Environmental Protection officials in Guangdong issued an urgent notice to their colleagues in Fujian on Sunday that toxic waste from Friday's leak at the Zijinshan Copper Mine had reached the lower reaches of the Tingjiang River in Guangdong.

The copper content in the Meizhou section of the river in Guangdong soared from 0.0135mg/L on July 15 to 0.0233mg/L the next day, posing a clear threat to the livelihoods of fish farmers in the area. Worse yet, the content remained on the rise over the weekend, according to a copy of the notice made available to China Daily on Monday.

The pollution "has exerted an explicit influence on the trans-provincial river section," the notice said, "and will pose big challenge to local fish farming."