following

[Archie]

The city’s 3.8 million people had been without water for more than four days following the dumping of 100 tons of benzene into the river on Nov.

I understand that this means that 100 tons of benzene were dumped into the river and consequently 3.8 million people had to be without water.
I find "following" a bit hard to assimilate because of the word order.
What synonyms can you use to replace "following" without changing the word order in the text above?

[mehmetcalimli]

I'd probably use "after" right there

[Dippit]

You could also use 'because of', 'as a result/consequence of', and 'due to'.
Hope this helps,
Dippit

[Archie]

OK
Thank you both