RUICHANG, Jiangxi - Permeated industrial sewage has been preliminary found out as the cause of the tap water contamination that left 110 people sickened in East China's Jiangxi province, according to local government authorities on Wednesday.

The randomly discharged industrial sewage, with sodium chloride and copper, from a smelting company in Ruichang city, corroded and permeated into the tap-water pipeline and contaminated the water, said Liu Jiqing, director with the city's environmental protection bureau.

The sewage, discharged by the Hongyi Smelting Company, went into the corroded tap-water pipe underground at about 9 am Tuesday morning, he said.

The testing report of the water sample showed the contaminated water had excessive levels of copper, chlorine and sodium, he added.

The local government shut down the pipelines on Tuesday and cleaned the the pipeline network. The tap water supply resumed on Wednesday.

A total of 112 people in Ruichang City have been hospitalized Tuesday after drinking the water. The victims were workers at a construction site in an industrial park in the city and nearby residents.

As of Wednesday evening, six people had been released from the hospital. The others remain but are in stable condition, said an official with the local government.

Hongyi Smelting Company has been ordered by the local government to stop production due to serious pollution of dust and smoke, Liu said.