Natham villagers have found dead fish in neither the Nonghan lake nor the Houaykoi stream since last Wednesday, but have yet to receive permission from the authorities to catch and cook fish.

The villagers stopped eating local fish two weeks ago after many dead dish were found in the lake and stream located in Pakngum district, Vientiane .

On Thursday, Village Chief Phimmasone Somsanouk said the water in both the stream and the lake was no longer dark and cloudy.

He said the appearance of the lake had returned to normal.

 The fish were believed to have died because of contaminated water discharged by the Lao-Indochina Tapioca Factory Co Ltd, during its processing of cassava powder. The lake is about 5km from the factory.

Vientiane Comprehensive Development Chairman Sihoun Sitthileuxay inspected the site on Friday.

“Now we can see the situation is much better,” he said. “However, villagers should not eat fish yet, nor allow their animals to drink water from the stream.”

Permission would not be given until the results of scientific analysis by the Water Resources and Environmental Agency (WREA) were known.

“We're tired of eating only meat, mushrooms and bamboo, as this is what we've been eating for over 10 days,” said a villager, Mr Chansy Somvang.

The WREA had taken water and fish samples on May 22 for analysis in labs at the Food and Drug Department and the WREA to identify the cause of the deaths.

The results should shed light on the substance responsible for the contamination, procedures to be rectified and what accountability measures might be undertaken.

WREA Pollution Control Division Director of the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Phengkhamla Phonvisai, said the normal procedures would be followed.

“We will officially announce the test results today,” he said.

The company is working with villagers to clean and clear the stream and ponds. It has pumped contaminated water from streams into the factory's treatment reservoir.

The company will dredge mud from the bottom of the creek for a distance of 100 metres downstream.

In addition, it will pay villages to clear weeds and overgrown areas by the creek banks for a distance of two kilometres.

“We will finish this within one week, including three days to clear the mud. The work began on Friday, and it will take us another three days to clear the bush,” Company Director Sengmaly Sengvatthana said.

The village has about 340 families and most of them use water from wells fed by fresh water springs or artesian sources.

“These sources have not been impacted,” Mr Chansy said. “The wells are far away from the factory's treatment reservoirs.”

Mr Sengmaly said factory staff were also using water from two artesian wells for washing and drinking. “If pollutants affect village wells, the factory will be the first to know.”

Heavy rain during the past fortnight washed some of the waste water held in storage ponds into a small nearby stream, which drains off into the lake.

The waste water was not stored in the factory's water treatment reservoir as the company began building new and larger reservoirs a few months ago. Construction work had damaged the existing treatment reservoirs and allowed waste water to drain off into the nearby ponds, where it remained for two months until the rains began.