ROME
Italy's disaster crisis chief says a sampling of a river where oil sludge seeped in from a spill shows the water is safe to drink and that the risk of pollution has been almost completely contained.
Guido Bertolaso told reporters Friday in Piacenza that the situation is under control three days after the spill in a tributary of the Po River, one of Italy's major waterways. He says at most 10 percent of the sludge got past barriers placed to stop the spill from spreading.
The affected stretch is in Parma province, an agricultural region renowned for producing parmesan, prosciutto and other food specialties.
Environmental groups are skeptical about the official reassurances.
The World Wildlife Fund for Nature says it fears pollution will affect the food chain for decades.
