For Better Water

China’s water quality is improving overall, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said on August 14. However, the progress is uneven, with some regions finding it hard to meet the annual quality improvement targets.

In the first half of 2017, the proportion of monitored surface water reaching Grade III or above— meaning water which can be used for drinking—rose to 70 percent across the country, up 1.2 percentage points from the same period in 2016, according to MEP.

The ratio has surpassed the 68.3-percent target set for 2017.

The proportion of water deemed “inferior to Grade V,” the worst in China’s water quality grading system and “too polluted for any purpose,” stood at 8.8 percent, down 1.7 percentage points from the same period in 2016.

The goal is to lower that to 8.4 percent this year, which means further efforts are needed.

Despite the general improvement, eight regions, including Hebei, Jilin and Fujian provinces, reported a drop in the proportion of highquality water, while five regions, including Heilongjiang and Jiangxi provinces, reported a rise in the proportion of polluted water.

Decades of breakneck growth have left much of China’s water seriously contaminated by factory waste and agricultural fertilizers, causing the government to step up efforts to address the widespread pollution.

In December 2016, China began to appoint “river chiefs” whose responsibilities include resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration. They are held accountable for any environmental damage in the bodies of water under their supervision.