Residents in a village in China do not eat the crops they grow nor drink their local water as their soil and groundwater have been severely polluted by chemical plants nearby.

The residents of Yuanshi county’s Beisu village in Hebei province have found a foamy, pungent substance in their water, and also complain of smaller yields of crops, Xinhua reported.

Other villages nearby have also complained of similar problems, according to the villagers.

The problems were caused by various polluting factories nearby, the villagers said, and the biggest polluter is allegedly a nitrate plant that produces as much as 2 billion yuan (HK$2.4 billion) of the substance a year, contributing a quarter of the county’s revenue.

But the manager of the nitrate plant said the company possessed environmental certification and enjoyed a good reputation for its nitrate products.

The county’s environment bureau head said the government was increasing compensation for the villagers as pollution worsened. It paid them as much as 1.5 million yuan in 2010 alone, the official said, adding that the government had also spent more than 100 million yuan on curbing pollution in the area.

Propaganda officials said five deep wells were dug in the county in 2013 to solve the villagers’ water usage problems.